无人机潜入深海

    换句话说，Liquid Robotics公司可以通过部署类似漂浮式服务器群来处理由该地区其他“波浪滑翔机”收集的数据，然后仅向岸上客户提供他们所需要的、经过处理及精炼之后的数据——这些数据尤其受到石油和天然气勘探公司的迅速接受。【除了美国国家海洋和大气管理局和美国海军之外，Liquid Robotics公司的客户名单中还包括斯伦贝谢（Schlumberger）和英国石油（BP）这样的公司。】

    Liquid Robotics公司首席执行官比尔•瓦斯说：“可以执行这些任务的一艘海洋级载人船只在商业环境中的成本约为每天15万美元。一艘海洋级研究船只的成本是每天约4万美元，我们‘波浪滑翔机’自动航海机器人做的是同种类型的数据收集——实际上通常是更为密集的数据收集，因为我们‘波浪滑翔机’的移动速度更为缓慢——而成本却只有载人船只的十分之一，而且我们在实施任务时不会造成污染，也不会让人员处于危险的境地之中。”

    瓦斯表示，目前Liquid Robotics公司在地球上每一个海洋里运营着总计200部“波浪滑翔机”，较去年同期增长60%。到目前为止，该公司已向大约100家客户提供过数据，而等到它目前这批“波浪滑翔机SV2”（大部分把原始数据源源不断地发送回岸上进行处理）得到更换、并且升级到具有随载处理能力的“波浪滑翔机SV3”（新的“波浪滑翔机SV3”将在今年第三季度开始出货，不过其大部分升级是对现有SV2的翻新）之后，Liquid Robotics公司向各大公司提供密集但又高度精炼的数据的能力很可能会成倍增强。瓦斯及其同事们预期未来全球各海洋到处可以看到“波浪滑翔机”，从而形成一个覆盖地球70%地区的网络，而这些地区到目前为止基本上尚未联网。

    他补充说：“我们的客户是任何转向海洋或者从海洋中提取价值的公司，或者任何从事气象相关业务的公司。”差不多囊括了一切与该价值定位密切相关的公司。不是所有公司都需要从远洋外源源不断传输回高清晰度的数据流，但Liquid Robotics公司提供的这些数据可能造成的影响远远超出了其客户群（试想任何依靠NOAA或国家气象局来作出决定的公司或个人）。而直接需要这种数据的那些实体——无论是石油和天然气公司、国家安全机构或是或野生动物管理、海洋研究人员或者国际航运企业——以前从来无法获得这些数据，至少规模没有现在这么庞大。

    “十年前，我们这家公司可能会被视为仅存在于科幻小说之中，” 瓦斯说。“把所有这些技术结合在一起真的会改变这个世界。”（财富中文网）

    译者：千牛絮、iDo98

    In other words, Liquid Robotics can deploy something like a floating server farm to process the data collected by other Wave Gliders in the area, then supply customers on shore with only the refined, processed data that they want -- something oil and gas exploration companies in particular have been quick to embrace. (Alongside the NOAA and U.S. Navy, Liquid Robotics' client list includes names like Schlumberger (SLB) and BP (BP).)

    "If you look at an ocean-rated crew vessel that can do this, it costs about $150,000 a day in a commercial environment," Vass says. "An ocean-rated research vessel is about $40,000 a day. We do the same kind of data collection -- usually denser data collection actually, because we move more slowly -- at about a tenth of that cost, and we don't pollute or put people at risk when we do it."

    Currently Liquid Robotics is operating 200 Wave Gliders at sea in every ocean on Earth, Vass says, a number that is growing 60% year over year. The company has provided data to about 100 customers thus far, and when its current fleet of SV2s -- which largely stream raw data back to shore for processing -- are replaced and upgraded with the SV3's onboard processing capability (the new SV3 begins shipping in Q3, though most of its upgrades are retrofittable to existing SV2s) Liquid Robotics' ability to provide companies with dense but highly refined data sets will likely grow exponentially. Vass and his colleagues envision a globe swimming with Wave Gliders, creating a mesh network that spans the 70% of the Earth that is, as yet, largely unwired.

    "Our customer is anyone who moves over the ocean or extracts value from it," Vass says. "Or anyone who deals with weather," he adds, more or less tying up what the company sees as its real value proposition. Not every company needs high-resolution data streaming in from far out at sea, but the data Liquid Robotics provides could have impacts far beyond its client base (think anyone who relies on NOAA or the National Weather Service to make decisions). And those entities that directly need this kind of data -- whether oil and gas outfits, national security agencies, or wildlife management, oceanographic researchers, or international shipping concerns -- have never been able to access it before. At least not like this.

    "Ten years ago this company would've been science fiction," Vass says. " Bringing all of this technology together is really going to change the world."