The Ranger is a man-portable Unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that supports technology development related to mine warfare, expeditionary warfare, homeland defense, underwater surveillance / reconnaissance and other missions, made by the Massachusetts robotics firm iRobot. Ranger is also designed for ocean research and commercial applications related to search and survey, such as oceanography.
Unlike the iRobot Seaglider which is propeller-less and motor-less, the Ranger has a propeller and is meant for shorter range missions.
Ranger weighs less than 20kg (40lb), travels at speeds up to 15kn and is programmed via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It can carry a variety of sensors for different kinds of data monitoring.
Ranger was initially developed by Nekton Research, Inc. in Durham, North Carolina. iRobot acquired Nekton Research in September, 2009. [1] [2] [3]