1999 Projects

Current Projects

	Benthic processes
	Midwater research
	Upper ocean biogeochemistry
	New research platforms
	ROV improvements
	Mooring improvements
	New in-situ Instruments
	Information management and archiving
	Education and outreach
	1998 Projects
	1997 Projects

1999 Projects: ROV improvements

Project lead/manager: Rob McEwen
Project team: T.Craig Dawe and the Stanford University Aerospace Robotics Laboratory (ARL) Group

During the course of an ROV mission it is often necessary for the pilot to hold the vehicle in position over a point on the seafloor. This station-keeping requires the pilot to pay careful attention to landmarks displayed on the video screen while manipulating the ROV thruster controls to counteract any motion. This tedious task can be automated though the use of feedback between video images of stationary objects and the vehicle thrusters, where an onboard computer monitors changes in the video and adjusts thruster power in response. Under this project we will implement the system to perform this operation. Stanford ARL has already developed the basic video algorithms and previously demonstrated them experimentally on Ventana. We will build on this work to produce and implement an improved version which will be available to the pilots as a permanent feature.

Next: Interchangeable end effector

Last updated: 07 October 2004