The UNEXMIN Georobotics Ltd. from Budapest, Hungary and the Hranický Kras unit of the Czech Speleological Society joined forces to explore the world’s currently known deepest flooded cave, the Hranická Propast in the Czech Republic, with the UX1-Neo AUV. Within this framework, the international team of the UNEXUP EIT RawMaterials project and the local speleologists, with the support of the Czech firefighters and special rescue units, started the work at the end of July after preparing the field.
The Czech Speleological Society has been investigating the area of Hranická Propast for decades. Previous dives by divers and diving robots reached a depth of 404 m. The main goal of this year’s research was high-precision 3D mapping of the upper part of the cave.
During the work, the team successfully achieved the originally set goals, and in addition, set a new world record on August 1, 2022, when the diving robot dived to a depth of 450 m and increased the explored and mapped depth of the cave by 45 meters.
The film about the expedition and the collected scientific data will soon be available to the general public and the profession.
It is clear from the current three-dimensional data that we have not yet reached the bottom of the cave, but technology has currently set this limit for safe diving. The international UNEXUP development team and UNEXMIN Georobotics Ltd will soon make the necessary technical modifications so that the UX robot can reach a depth of up to 1,500 m, and by continuing mapping, it can break its own world depth record again next year.
