Robot life: simulation and participation in the study of evolution and social behavior.

This paper explores the case of using robots to simulate evolution, in particular the case of Hamilton's Law. The uses of robots raises several questions that this paper seeks to address. The first concerns the role of the robots in biological research: do they simulate something (life, evolution, sociality) or do they participate in something? The second question concerns the physicality of the robots: what difference does embodiment make to the role of the robot in these experiments. Thirdly, how do life, embodiment and social behavior relate in contemporary biology and why is it possible for robots to illuminate this relation? These questions are provoked by a strange similarity that has not been noted before: between the problem of simulation in philosophy of science, and Deleuze's reading of Plato on the relationship of ideas, copies and simulacra

WP2 : Développer la nouvelle génération des flotteurs Argo

Description des tâches du work package 2 du projet NAOS "Développer la nouvelle génération des flotteurs Argo" : - Fiabilisation Arvor et nouveau flotteur Arvor-NT - Communications Argos-3 - Arvor Profond (deep-Arvor) - Architecture vecteur - mesure - Flotteur Provor avec capteur de densité NOSS - Profileur Bio Arctiqu

Deep-Arvor: Technology & results from the first deployment

Deep-Arvor has been designed to achieve more than 150 profiles from 4000 meters depth, with CTD continuously pumping and oxygen measurements. The first prototype of Deep-Arvor was deployed in August 2012. High resolution profiles are transmitted by the Iridium satellite system. Deep-Arvor maintains the self-ballasting feature of Provor/Arvor and the easy deployment of Arvor thanks to its light weight

Deep-Arvor: a profiling float for deep sea applications

The deep-Arvor profiling float has been designed by Ifremer. It is based on the Arvor technology, and can do 150 profiles at 4000 dbars. This poster gives the main features of the deep-Arvor profiling float, its qualification method, results at sea and information on its industrialization

Deep-Arvor floats (4000m) : first results and future plans

The Deep-Arvor float is an Argo float designed to achieve more than 150 profiles at 4000m depth. It is equipped with a SBE41CP CTD. Oxygen measurements are in option (4330 optode). Two 3500 dbar models were deployed in 2012 and 2013. Two 4000 m (4120 db) industrials prototypes were deployed in 2014. We expect to deploy twelve 4000 m floats in 2015 and 2016. Results at sea of the first 4 Deep-Arvor are presented

How to monitor a large-scale surface-flow constructed wetland with minimal disturbance?

International audienceThe AZHUREV surface-flow constructed wetland is a large-scale demonstration wetland built at the outlet of the Grand Reims (France) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Three 20,000 m 2 basins (rectangular shape with different depth distribution within each basin) have been created: the initial vegetation (mainly P. australis, S. lacustris and G. maxima) density was also different in each basin. Their aim is to polish a part of the treated wastewater (250 m 3 /h) from the Grand Reims WWTP, as well as to treat part of the Grand Reims stormwater. The basic monitoring of the wetlan is routinely done via sampling at the inlet and the outlet of each basin. However this does not provide information on the spatial distribution of the pollution in the basins, or of temperature and dissolved oxygen. Photographs are routinely taken from the shore but, due to the size of the basins, they do not provide detailed information on the development of the vegetation. To monitor the basins without disturbance, two drones are used:-An aquatic drone (Spyboat by CT2MC) which is remotely driven from the shore. It is fitted with a dissolved oxygen probe and a temperature sensor to collect data 10 cm below the surface. It can also collect liquid samples by means of a peristaltic pump. The superstation in oxygen observed with the aquatic drone in spring is correlated with the increase of the photosynthetically active solar radiation and the development of algae in the basins. Later in the year, anaerobic zones are detected under the duckweed-covered surface. The aquatic drone is more difficult to operate when the duckweed layer is becoming thick or when the surface is frozen.-An aerial drone (type DJI-S900), to better locate dense vegetation beds (especially those of G. maxima) and verify their development. Isolated plants cannot be located easily by the aerial drone. Satellite imaging (Landsat 8 OLI images obtained from https://glovis.usgs.gov) is also tested. The satellites images are collected every two weeks but cannot be used in presence of clouds. In spite of their 30m resolution, they allow to monitor the variation with respect to time of the vegetation, especially the development of duckweed on the wetland surface. The poster will present the latest 2019 results obtained with these tools and discuss further their advantages and disadvantages

“Deep-Arvor”: A new profiling float to extend the Argo observations down to 4000m depth.

The international Argo program, consisting of a global array of more than 3000 free-drifting profiling floats, has now been monitoring the upper 2000 meters of the ocean for several years. One of its main proposed evolutions is to be able to reach the deeper ocean in order to better observe and understand the key role of the deep ocean in the climate system. For this purpose, Ifremer has designed the new “Deep-Arvor” profiling float: it extends the current operational depth down to 4000 meters, and measures temperature and salinity for up to 150 cycles with CTD pumping continuously and 200 cycles in spot sampling mode. High resolution profiles (up to 2000 points) can be transmitted and data are delivered in near real time according to Argo requirements. Deep-Arvor can be deployed everywhere at sea without any pre-ballasting operation and its light weight (~ 26kg) makes its launching easy. Its design was done to target a cost effective solution. Predefined spots have been allocated to add an optional oxygen sensor and a connector for an extra sensor. Extensive laboratory tests were successful. The results of the first at sea experiments showed that the expected performances of the operational prototypes had been reached (i.e. to perform up to 150 cycles). Meanwhile, the industrialization phase was completed in order to manufacture the Deep-Arvor float for the pilot experiment in 2015. In this paper, we detail all the steps of the development work and present the results from the at sea experiments