College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

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An underwater tent co-invented by a professor at the University of Arizona will be showcased this month during Discovery Channel’s popular Shark Week.

Nicknamed Ocean Space Habitat, the portable inflatable tent allows occupants to camp primarily underwater. Co-invented by Arizona professor Winslow Burleson and professional diver Michael Lombardi, the tent will be featured in the episode “The Great Hammerhead Stakeout,” which airs July 18 on Discovery +.

Burleson is a professor and research director in the School of Information at the UArizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and has a joint appointment in the university’s health sciences design program. Burleson helped develop tent technology when he was a professor at New York University.

Research and development efforts for ocean space habitat are underway at Lombardi Undersea LLC, in cooperation with several academic and industrial partners, including the University of Arizona, New York University, University of Connecticut , City University of Hong Kong and Subsalve USA.

(University of Arizona) Ocean Space Habit research collaborations expand what’s possible and feasible in a wide range of underwater environments, from coral reef studies and new fisheries to collaborative teams human robots and similar planetary missions, ”said Burleson. “The broadcast of one-of-a-kind hammerhead shark research on Shark Week is certainly one of the highlights so far.”

The tent provides a relatively dry and protected underwater space for divers to enter, remove their gear, and complete chores before returning to the surface. The high-tech habitat offers deep-water divers a place to decompress after deep science dives and for medical treatment for decompression sickness in remote locations. It also gives divers the opportunity to engage in long-term observations of wildlife behavior and conduct science experiments before they surface. The tent system is highly portable and can provide adequate life support for two occupants overnight.

Multiple experimental deployments of the tent have taken place since 2011, and the platform is now emerging as a viable scientific tool.

“The underwater value is analogous to a hiking excursion – we certainly learn more from a night in the environment than from a short walk in the park. This step has not yet been taken in the underworld. sailor in a way that is affordable and accessible to the masses, ”Lombardi said.

Burleson is a social inventor specializing in human-machine interaction and the learning sciences. He was previously Principal Investigator for the NSF Experiential Supercomputing: A Transdisciplinary Research and Innovation Holodeck Grant. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles, holds 11 patents and has twice received the award for best inventions of the year from Time magazine.

A version of this article was originally posted on the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences website: https://sbs.arizona.edu/news/ischool-professors-underwater-tent-co-invention-featured-discovery-channels -shark-week.