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Charlie: CIA's Robotic Fish

In the 1990s, CIA’s Office of Advanced Technologies created “Charlie,” a robotic catfish, to study the feasibility of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and other aquatic robot technologies for intelligence collection purposes.

Charlie’s design capabilities included speed, endurance, maneuverability, depth control, navigational accuracy, autonomy, and radio communications.

Charlie contains a pressure hull, ballast system, and communications system in the body and a propulsion system in the tail.

A wireless line-of-sight radio handset provides control. Charlie’s mission was to collect water samples undetected.


Posted: Jun 04, 2013 02:14 PM
Last Updated: Jun 04, 2013 02:15 PM