New underwater drones to assist in hunting explosives

Students of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and four other schools are assisting in developing underwater drones to detect explosives off shore.

Being developed as part of the US Department of Defence’s (DoD) $15,000 funding, the new technology would assist the agency in detecting unexploded explosives including bomb, missiles and mines off shores.

Stevens Institute of Technology professor Michael Delorme was quoted by the Fox News as saying: "Some of it dates back to the Civil War. Some of it is World War II."

"And the DOD is taking responsibility to go around and find these lost items and make sure they are safe and inert," Delorme added.

Students are already testing the drone prototype, which incorporates a metal detector as well as sensors and can be controlled wirelessly.

According to an estimate, more than 30 million pounds of abandoned explosives are currently left unexploded off the US coasts.

Stevens Institute of Technology student Joe Huyett said: "It was really great being on this project where we’re helping the Navy solve this real problem of having unexploded ordnance on the seafloor that could potentially hurt somebody."