BlueRobotics Propels Itself to Cool Idea! Award
06 Maio 2014 - 12:27PM
Business Wire
Proto Labs recognizes Thruster-100 system for
innovation in marine mobility.
Proto Labs (NYSE: PRLB) has presented a Cool Idea! Award to the
team at BlueRobotics for their development work on the Thruster-100
propulsion system for robotic marine vehicles.
Thruster-100, designed by BlueRobotics,
named Cool Idea! Award recipient. The device can be used for
aquatic exploration. (Photo: BlueRobotics)
BlueRobotics designed the compact Thruster-100 as a low-cost
motor and propeller unit that users can affix to remotely operated
underwater vehicles and small surface vessels for aquatic
exploration. A plastic framework integrated with a brushless
electric motor enables the thruster to operate continuously for
months at a time, navigate into deep waters and resist the
corrosive nature of ocean saltwater.
By drastically reducing the hardware expense typically
associated with buying a thruster, the company hopes to provide a
more accessible entry point for hobbyists, educators, students and
professionals. “There's a developing community of people online who
are doing marine robotics projects for fun and ecological reasons
and they're all having the same problem — they don't have an
affordable underwater thruster,” says engineer and BlueRobotics
co-founder, Rustom Jehangir.
Applications for marine robotics vary from studying ocean
currents and temperatures to photographing reefs and sea creatures
to surveying underwater wreckage. With the Thruster-100, the goal
is to inexpensively power more exploration like that. “We hope the
thruster will serve as a foundation for which other people can
build things,” explains Joe Spadola, co-founder at
BlueRobotics.
As part of the Cool Idea! Award grant from Proto Labs, the
company will receive a range of thermoplastic injection-molded
parts including nose, propeller, nozzle and tail cone components
along with mounting brackets. BlueRobotics plans to make its
Thruster-100 available to customers later this year.
“While hardware, software and information have become readily
available to the rapidly expanding hobbyist robotic market, ocean
exploration within that market has been limited in part by the cost
and design of the thruster component. BlueRobotics has designed a
product that will enable not only the hobbyist market, but the
academic and commercial markets to push the current limits of
marine robotics,” says Proto Labs Founder and Chairman, Larry
Lukis.
Launched in 2011, the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award gives a total
of $250,000 in services each year to entrepreneurs developing new
products in the United States and Europe. Unlike other product
awards that recognize products after they’re in mass production and
on store shelves, the Cool Idea! Award is meant to help innovative
ideas come to life. For more information about the Cool Idea! Award
and to apply, visit www.protolabs.com/coolidea.
About Proto LabsProto Labs, Inc. (NYSE: PRLB) is a leading
online and technology-enabled quick-turn manufacturer of custom
parts for prototyping and short-run production. Proto Labs provides
“Real Parts, Really Fast” to product developers worldwide. Proto
Labs uses computer numerical control (CNC) machining, injection
molding and additive manufacturing to manufacture custom parts for
our customers. For more information, visit www.protolabs.com.
About BlueRoboticsBlueRobotics is a California-based team of
mechanical engineers who are developing affordable technology and
thruster hardware for robotic marine vehicles. For more
information, visit http://www.blue-robotics.com/.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
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Proto LabsBill Dietrick,
763-479-7664bill.dietrick@protolabs.comorHotwire for Proto
LabsAyla Richards, 646-561-8546ayla.richards@hotwirepr.com
Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB)
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