Jellyfish-Inspired Profiling Floats

With MEDUSAE, our world class team proposes to leverage our extensive experience, existing technology, and a unique approach to lightweight, long lasting, self-recharging jellyfish-inspired floats to fill an oceanographic sensing capability gap for the Navy. Our experience in bio-inspired robot (including jellyfish), nonconventional actuation, and energy harvesting development promises to provide a tactically relevant solution. We can show feasibility in the short term as well as major advantages from cutting edge approaches in the long term. Driven by a prime contractor that has over 20 years of proven success commercializing technologies including maritime devices, the MEDUSAE project promises success for ONR and future transition partners. Our team and our network of connections to the user community provide reduced risk with increased probability of transition. The MEDUSAE concept provides a low cost, station keeping, energy harvesting solution for long term use (greater than or equal to 12 months). PH I will generate proof of concept and align PH II for success through use of our existing capabilities and technology in the oceanographic, dropsonde, and sensor markets and a focus on the main challenges of this specific development (mobility and power).