June 17 – The seabed in front of Israel’s coastline abunds in shipwrecks from all centuries and even the remains of a Neolithic village – Atlit Yam – submerged after the Ice Age. Monoliths, wells, graves, objects, houses, installations, rituals, artifacts of stone, bones, and wood are hidden underwater, but soon they will return “to the light” thanks to a special archaeological mission featuring the underwater robots’ TifOne fleet. The robots, designed by researchers at the University of Florence, from today until July 1 will be committed to the mission of the Israel Antiquities Authority. They will explore the seabed off the coast of Caesarea and Akko in search of sunken treasures. The Israeli-American mission requested the collaboration of the Florentine team of researchers – coordinated by Benedict Allotta – which made available its fleet of underwater vehicles: TifOne and TifTu. The are two autonomous underwater robot were designed by the Department of Industrial Engineering in collaboration with the Enrico Piaggio Center of the University of Pisa, and Nemo, a wire-guided robot developed in collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Florence and the Civil Protection. TifOne and Nemo will help archaeologists discover new wrecks and sunken artifacts, document the discovered sites, and plan new explorations.
“The two vehicles can exchange information through communication tools known as acoustic modems – said Benedict Allotta, Professor of Applied Mechanics – TifOne has on-board sensors, two cameras and a side-scan sonar. It also has an accurate navigation system that allows to locate it even if it doesn’t re-emerge for a long time or it doesn’t receive the location data provided by TifTu. The geo-referenced images will be used to make a three-dimensional reconstruction of the sites, that can then be explored just like in a video-game. Nemo, also part of the fleet, is currently under valuation for two international patent requests. The robot will be attached to the surface with a high-speed communication cable, and it allow archaeologists to be on the scene, driving the robot with a controller.”