DAN Europe is testing an underwater dive buddy drone known as CADDY (Cognitive Autonomous Diving Buddy). The set-up being tested includes a diver, an underwater drone and a surface drone all working together to monitor and respond to safety issues during a dive.

Using the CADDY system, a diver will “interact with the companion autonomous underwater robot that will manoeuvre underwater in the vicinity of the diver and exhibit cognitive behavior with regard to the diver actions”.

“Divers (SCUBA, scientific, and technical) operate in harsh and weakly monitored environments in which the slightest unexpected disturbances, technical malfunctions, or lack of attention of a diver can result in catastrophic consequences. These issues are usually dealt by pairing up divers and adopting well defined rules for diving operations to reduce the chance of accidents. However, during more challenging dives these procedures may not be sufficient to ensure almost accident-free operations, for the divers must manoeuvre in complex 3D environments, carry cumbersome equipment, and focus attention on operational details. It is against this backdrop of ideas that CADDY sets forth the key goal of contributing to the development of a new breed of technological systems to monitor the behaviour of human divers and assist them during the execution of demanding missions at sea.”

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