1999 Projects: ROV improvements
In 1999 MBARI will balance operational use of its ROVs with improvements and upgrades
to enhance their performance and capabilities.
Upgrades designed to ease the work of the pilots:
 Automated robotic arm control—development
of software to automate certain steps of robotic arm functions such as sample collection
and the selection of tools for various tasks.
Automatic station-keeping—implementation
of a system that will automatically hold the vehicle in position over a specified location
on the seafloor.
Interchangeable end effector—development
of interchangeable ends ("hands") for the vehicle manipulators that will
allow tooling to be switched out underwater and expand the number of tasks that can be
accomplished by the system.
New tools that will extend the science capability of the ROVs:
Benthic box-core system—design
of an improved device for recovering samples of seafloor sediments for a variety of
scientific analyses..
Detritus sampler—development
of a collecting device for effectively capturing larvacean filtering structures and other
delicate organisms too large for collection with current used samplers.
Toolsled interface adaptor—fabrication
of a toolsled interface adaptor for Ventana, to enable toolsleds designed for
Tiburon to be tested on Ventana.
Benthic elevator—The duration
of an ROV dive is currently limited by the number of samplers it can carry. To overcome
this limitation, engineers and operations personnel will develop a benthic elevator for
transporting samplers to the ROV at depth and bringing collected samples back to the
surface.
Projects that aim to improve performance and reduce maintenance time for the vehicles:
Ventana manipulator upgrade—The
ROV's existing five-function arm will be replaced with a seven-function model, similar to
the one installed on Tiburon.
Tiburon Integrated Viewing System—Modifications
on Tiburon's integrated, dual-camera system will render it more
user-friendly and easier to service.
Tiburon thruster and power system upgrades—Upgrades
to Tiburon will augment its power capbilities and provide it with more reliable
thrusters.
Tiburon umbilical rotation sensor—Engineers
will install a sensor to alert ROV operators to twists in Tiburon’s umbilical
(tether), allowing them to counteract cable kinks that could result in serious damage.
Aided inertial navigation system for Tiburon—For
improved navigation capabilities aboard Tiburon, and ultimately for MBARI AUVs,
engineers will complete development of an aided inertial navigation system.
Spread-spectrum underwater navigation
Precision-control technologies for underwater vehicles—MBARI
and collaborators will explore technologies that could potentially enable a wide range of
autonomy in controlling autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles.
Mapping project—The high-resolution mapping data that MBARI collected in 1998 will be fully
integrated into a GIS system to allow precise positioning of vehicles with respect to the
seafloor and experiment sites.
Last updated: 10 November 2003 |
