Patent ID: 8205570

Claim:
An autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (“AUV”) for traveling in a body of water, the AUV comprising: a body comprising a hull; a buoyancy engine carried by the body, wherein the AUV has mass, and the buoyancy engine is for alternately ingesting and expelling the water to change the mass of the AUV and thereby cause the AUV to alternately descend and ascend in the water, and wherein the buoyancy engine comprises a reciprocating piston; at least one pitch control surface carried by the body for causing the AUV to move forward while alternately descending and ascending in the water; a rotary propulsion system carried by the body and including an electric motor for rotating a rotary agitator in the water to provide thrust, and thereby cause the AUV to move in the water, wherein the rotary agitator includes at least one of a propeller and an impeller; and a controller operative for responsively, automatically switching between at least a glider mode in which the buoyancy engine and the at least one pitch control surface are cooperative for causing the AUV to move forward while alternately descending and ascending, and a rotary propulsion mode in which the rotary propulsion system is operative for causing the AUV to move forward.