Russia Set to Create Prototypes of Robots Exploring Arctic Resources

Russia is expected to create prototypes of special robots designed to explore the mineral resources in 2018, the head of physical-technical research projects group of the Advanced Research Fund (FPI) said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — All the systems were expected to be autonomous, robotic and unmanned, except the first in the world nuclear submarine designed for civil purposes, Viktor Litvinenko told RIA Novosti, speaking about the research activities of the FPI aimed at exploration of mineral resources in the Arctic region.

"In the next year we are finishing a concept design stage of all five independent systems that are being developed within the framework of the Iceberg project and we will move to the creation of prototypes. We are planning to start creation of a prototype in 2018," Viktor Litvinenko said.

Since 2013, the FPI, along with Russia's Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering Rubin, the defense ministry, energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft, as well as state nuclear agency Rosatom and the United Shipbuilding Corporation have been working out the possibility to create equipment that would allow research of hydrocarbons in the region.

The Arctic shelf is believed to hold enormous deposits of oil and natural gas. According to Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources, the total value of energy resources concentrated in Russia's Arctic region exceeds $30 trillion. Ministry experts predict that in the future, Russian oil and gas production will be mainly concentrated on the Arctic sea shelves.