Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are playing an increasingly important role in a variety of application domains.  They are used extensively in industrial applications where intervention operations are required.  They are also used to support scientific exploration where feedback to operators is provided directly to the surface via the tether.

We have recently acquired a small vLBV ROV from Seabotix to support research in improved underwater imaging as well as in underwater intervention.  We have been testing the vehicle in a pool to explore its capabilities. The following videos show the vehicle under manual control being driven towards a small float to test out the ability to grasp the float. The latter video was captured with a cross current being provided by the pool’s pump. We are planning deployments in a number of real field environments and will also be working on closing the loop with its vision systems to allow for research in automated intervention.