Different Uses for an ROV

Emergency Service:

ROVs within the Emergency Service field are currently unavailable, but would be extremely valuable in regards to underwater rescue, for the Ambulance Service, or information collection about an accident, for the Police Force.

Currently, there are divers within the Ambulance Service and Police Force that will dive down to the underwater accident which is a slow and laborious process. With the addition of Underwater ROVs, they will be able to get down to the accident quickly without having to actually send officers or paramedics down.

The technology that is being used now in regards to Underwater ROVs is rather large and bulky, making them hard to manoeuvre around obstructions in the water. This would be a must if they were going to be used by either the Police force or Ambulance Service, as the submerged vehicle would have to be used as evidence and there is a possibility that there are people inside. If the ROV was large and happened to alter anything within the vehicle, then that would be counted as tampering with the evidence and it would be hard to tell whether dents or scratches left by the ROV were there during or before the accident. As well as this, if something large and bulky hit a person in the head, it would most likely knock them out and may even lead to their death. Therefore, if an Emergency Service Underwater ROV was to be made, it would need to be small and compact to reduce the likelihood of tampering with the evidence or further harming any live patients contained within the vehicle.

Another feature that would be important for an Emergency Service ROV would be a camera and lights. The Emergency Services would need to actually be able to see what is happening around the ROV; otherwise there would be no point in sending it down. When collecting evidence, they would need to record what the ROV is seeing in order to collect evidence. The Ambulance Services would also need it in order to determine whether it is necessary to send down a diver in order to complete a rescue. The lights would enable them to actually see what is happening; otherwise it would be too dark or murky under the water for them to see. One last thing that would be good for an Ambulance Service Underwater ROV to have would be a current technology called the Resqme. It is manufactured in case your car goes underwater. It has a built-in spring-loaded thing that is used to break the window and knife like thing that is used to cut a seatbelt in case it gets jammed. If this was added, it would be necessary to include some way of pushing the button that is on the side of the Resqme that makes the spring-loaded things go off.

The combination of all of these factors would mean create an Underwater, Emergency Services ROV that is capable of recording underwater evidence, providing live information to rescue teams and, if necessary, cutting patients seatbelts and breaking the windows so they are able to get out.

Defence:

ROVs have been used in armies mainly for minehunting and mine breaking.

The US Navy uses an ROV called AN/SLQ-48 Mine Neutralization Vehicle (MNV) for mine warfare. It can go 1000 yards away from the ship due to a connecting cable, and can reach 2000 feet deep. During August 19, 2011, a Boeing-made robotic submarine dubbed Echo Ranger was being tested for possible use by the U.S. military to stalk enemy waters, patrol local harbors for national security threats and scour ocean floors to detect environmental hazards.

An example of a Defensive ROV being used now is Daksh. Daksh is an electrically powered ROV designed and developed by the Indian DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) at the Research and Development Establishment. It can navigate staircases, negotiate steep slopes, navigate narrow corridors and tow vehicles to reach hazardous materials. Using its robotized arm, it can lift a suspect object and scan it using its portable X-Ray device. If the object is a bomb, Daksh can defuse it with its water jet disrupter. It has a shotgun, which can break open locked doors, and it can scan cars for explosives.Daksh was primarily designed to recover improvised explosive devices, and can safely locate, handle and destroy all types of hazardous objects. Daksh will serve bomb disposal units of the army, police and paramilitary forces in handling IEDs and other hazardous materials. The Indian Army has 100 ROVs. The Daksh could be improved if the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation could make it an underwater defencive ROV. The Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation could benefit if Daksh could stalk enemy waters, patrol local harbors for national security threats and scour ocean floors to detect environmental hazards like the Echo Ranger in the U.S. Military.

Resource and information extraction:

Existing designs and uses:

The DONET (Dense Ocean-floor Network system for Earthquakes and Tsunamis) is a submarine cabled seafloor observatory network design for earthquakes and tsunamis monitoring on a part of the Western pacific ring. Twenty sets of high performance observatories are installed to the seafloor in this project. It is one of the most difficult engineering projects to establish a construction method of complex sensor observatory on seafloor. The use of ROV is necessary in the subsea construction.

Jason and Medea are a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system designed and built by WHOI’s Deep Submergence Laboratory to allow scientists to have access to the seafloor without leaving the deck of a ship.Jason is a two-body ROV system. A 10-kilometer reinforced fiber-optic cable delivers electrical power and commands from the ship through Medea and down to Jason, which then returns data and live video imagery. Medea serves as a shock absorber from the movements of the ship, while providing a bird’s eye view of the ROV during seafloor operations.Jason is equipped with sonars, video and still imaging systems, lighting, and numerous sampling systems. Jason’s manipulator arms collect samples of rock, sediment, or marine life and place them in the vehicle’s basket or on “elevator” platforms that float heavier loads to the surface.

ROVs GNOM are widely used for searching works and surveys of shipwrecks including potentially dangerous wrecks. Search of drowned equipment, weapons, ammunitions are more is now quick and easy with GNOM. GNOM is very effective in underwater archeological researches. GNOM can be used for examinations mines as well. The deeper immersion is more difficult and becomes harder for a human to overcome the pressure. When you use GNOM the risk of divers becomes lower, safety increases and efficiency and effectiveness of underwater works rises up and costs of these works decrease. Emergency Control Ministry of Russia uses the GNOM for searching and inspection of underwater objects and subjects in The Baltic, Black, Karski and Japanese seas. Above all these it examines sunken atomic submarine boats, drowned chemical ammunitions, flooded hard radio-active wastes, sunken ships with ordinary ammunitions and oil products.ROVs GNOM are able to make a visual checkup and inspection, to define the type of object, to measure the level of damage and degree of potential danger of an environment. Using GNOM’s considerably reduces the time that you spend on searching and rescuing works. GNOM’s give an opportunity to look after an object without restriction for a long time and to execute a maximally overhaul of the object. For the work with GNOM you need only 2-3 persons to control the process. Maximal time you need to be ready for working: 30 minutes. GNOM is even able to work when there are bad environmental conditions, for example sea disturbance. ROVs can dive till the depth of 500 meters. Owing to GNOM’s small size it can get into hard-to-reach places. GNOM’s increase the safety of divers. Using GNOM’s is more cost-effective than divers’ labor especially on depth more than 100 meters.

Scientific discovery/ expeditions:

Using an ROV (Jason) scientist discovered and recorded the first video and still images of a deep-sea volcano actively erupting molten lava on the seafloor. Jason,was designed and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the National Deep Submergence Facility. And utilized a prototype, high-definition still and video camera to capture the powerful event nearly 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in an area bounded by Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Search and Recovery:

ROVs GNOM are used for searching works and surveys of shipwrecks. GNOM can be used for examinations mines as well.

Using GNOMs decreases the risk for divers, safety increases and efficiency of the search and recovery increases. Using GNOMs especially the GNOM Baby model will save a lot of money.

Emergency Control Ministry of Russia uses GNOM ROVs for searching and inspection of underwater objects and subjects in The Baltic, Black, Karskoe and Japanese seas. ROVs GNOM are able to make a visual checkup and inspection, to define the type of object, to measure the level of damage and degree of potential danger for an environment.

Using GNOMs considerably reduces the time that you spend on searching and rescue works. GNOM is able to work when there are bad environmental conditions, such as sea disturbance. ROVs can dive till the depth of 500 meters. GNOM Baby’s small size can get into hard-to-reach places and it can also take videos.