AustraliaWave-powered robot arrives in AustraliaIn a world record setting crossing, the first wave powered autonomous marine robot arrives in Queensland after its lonely 17,000 kilometre journey from San Francisco, writes Andy Park.INTERACTIVE MAP &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;small&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left" href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fapps.liquidr.com%2Ffusion%2Fkml%2FPacX_Course_and_Progress.kmz&amp;amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;amp;geocode=+&amp;amp;amp;t=h&amp;amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;amp;source=embed&amp;amp;amp;ll=6.315299,-171.5625&amp;amp;amp;spn=104.198471,161.71875"&amp;gt;View Larger Map&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/small&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Despite shark attacks, gale-force storms and the 365 days on the lonely open seas, &amp;lt;a href="http://liquidr.com/pacx/pacific-crossing.html"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Papa Mau&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;, one of four &amp;lt;a href="http://liquidr.com/technology/wave-glider.html"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Wave Gliders&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; who set out from San Francisco last year, has successfully traversed the Pacific Ocean.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The autonomous marine robot, which uses only solar and wave power, arrived in Harvey Bay, Queensland today, setting a new Guinness World Record for the longest distance travelled by an autonomous vehicle, travelling 16,668 kilometres or 9000 nautical miles.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The three machines began their journey together from California to Hawaii, and then split into pairs where one pair is continuing to Japan via the Mariana Trench.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;One of the pair, which spit off to head for Australia, malfunctioned and had to be dry-docked for repairs.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;WAVE GLIDER ARCHITECTURE&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img src="/news/sites/sbs.com.au.news/files/images/w/a/wave-powered-robot-arrives-in-australia_embedded_0.jpg" /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The data collecting and transmitting robot navigated along a prescribed route, collecting high-resolution images and data that are being made available free and in real time for anyone to use, from oceanographers, geographers, marine biologists and other scientists.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;It's part of the PacX Challenge, a global competition that's been set up to explore and research the data set.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Five science teams have now been selected to compete for the grand prize of $50,000 in research money from BP.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;WAVE GLIDER ARRIVES IN AUSTRALIA &amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;<brightspot-cms-external-content data-state="{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55DNChSUWCc&quot;,"_id":"0000017e-92cf-dbb0-ab7e-93cfce8a0000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55DNChSUWCc</brightspot-cms-external-content>&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;ldquo;To say we are excited and proud of Papa Mau reaching his final destination is an understatement,&amp;amp;rdquo; said Bill Vass, CEO of Liquid Robotics.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;ldquo;We set off on the PacX journey to demonstrate that Wave Glider technology could not only survive the high seas and a journey of this length, but more importantly, collect and transmit ocean data in real-time from the most remote portions of the Pacific Ocean.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;"We've demonstrated delivery of ocean data services through the most challenging ocean&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; conditions. Mission accomplished.&amp;amp;rdquo;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;WAVE GLIDER STRONG ENOUGH TO PULL DIVER&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;<brightspot-cms-external-content data-state="{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_X05oIUmDo&quot;,"_id":"0000017e-92cf-dbb0-ab7e-93cfce8a0001","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_X05oIUmDo</brightspot-cms-external-content>&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;HOW IT WORKS&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;<brightspot-cms-external-content data-state="{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJq9nQ_m2A&quot;,"_id":"0000017e-92cf-dbb0-ab7e-93cfce8a0002","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJq9nQ_m2A</brightspot-cms-external-content>&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;Share2 min readPublished 6 December 2012 6:14pmUpdated 26 August 2013 10:48amBy Andy ParkSource: SBSShare this with family and friendsCopy linkShare