July 25, 2021: 3D Point Cloud Rendering of Coral
Image courtesy of Kraken Robotics and NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download larger version (jpg, 946 KB).
Kraken Robotic’s SeaVision® is a compact underwater laser imaging system that offers the resolution, range, and scan rate to deliver dense 3D point cloud images of subsea infrastructure with millimeter resolution in real time. The system is designed for deployment on underwater robotic platforms such as remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles.
In 2019, NOAA Ocean Exploration partnered with Kraken Robotics to test SeaVision® from NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. This high-resolution 3D point cloud rendering is of a bubblegum coral scanned using SeaVision®. From the point cloud, it is possible to measure distances between objects in the scene, for example the thickness of coral stem, or to estimate volumes. This could make such a tool very powerful for gathering specific information about an animal or artifact without an potentially invasive sampling.
From: Kraken Robotic’s SeaVision®.