No abstract

Power supply is one ofthe most important issues fbr autonomous underwater vehicles 〔 AUVs ) which have no umbilical cable connecting with their mother ships ． Underwater robotic glider can go fbrward without any propulsive machincry and it is extremely effTcient in energy consumpt 童 on ， The purpose of this research is to study the feasibildy of a solar ・ powered underwater robotic giider so as to improve its long− t n endurance ． The SORA glider equipped with two thnustors and amorpheus −silicon solar panels was developed as a test − bed vehlcle of thc solar ・ powered underwater robotic glideら and the authors have demonstrated that SORA has an ability to go underwatcr using solar encrg 》 T ． This paper deals with development ofthe SORA gl童 dcr and the 掩as 重 b孟 置 ity ofthe so 肇 ar − pGwered u 翻( lerwater robetic glider use inせ鹽e surfaee layer ofocean ．