An Engineer Online article reports on a new European project that aims to increase the reliability of AUVs. They hope to find ways to reduce the cost, complexity, and risk of failure or loss. All these problems seem to plague the current generation of these undersea robots. Sandor Veres of Southampton University will be leading the effort, helped by computer scientists Alessio Lomuscio of Imperial College, and many other researchers. In related news, Southampton University recently announced a design breakthrough for AUVs. Most AUVs use complex hydraulic thruster systems with as many as 350 moving parts. Southhampton has developed a simple electric thruster system with just a few moving parts. To replace the hydraulics a significant size reduction of electric thrusters had to be achieved by integrating the motor and thruster components into a single unit.