I agree with that. But is this the right form for it? Airships are bulky. Caves are obstructed. A smaller flying drone, like some form of a multicopter would be my choice if I want to maximise the chances that it fits the cave.
How long can your drone stay in the air?
But it’s unlikely for you to actually need endurance because you’re not getting signal that far through a cave without repeaters or a long cable. A bigger deal is being able to go underwater or fit through tiny openings.
Personally I’d be more concerned with explosive gas mixtures, but that’s not an issue in most cave systems.
I mean you could let it roam on it's own and report back no? But even if you had to be in the same area as it, it then lets you go for even longer. Like some people sleep in these caves and bag in/out a bunch of supplies so needing to carry less batteries would be nice I assume.
> A bigger deal is being able to go underwater or fit through tiny openings.
That's in the abstract as well: "Our design strengthens the robot while granting the ability to access narrow spaces by folding the structure - up to a volume expansion ratio of 19.8."
A floating lightning drone could be useful for that. :)
You could combine this with inflatable light technology & the gas bag itself could be a source of illumination.