Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

It is necessary to have a visual inspection to check the general serviceability of the structure, particularly for maintenance and the safety of users. Similarly, structures with some portions underwater must be inspected. However, in the exploration and inspection of the underwater structure, humans have difficulty accessing the area that can be a potentially dangerous task. Therefore, to access to the area and increase the frequency of structural inspection, tools or robot systems are need for the job. Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, with cooperation from agencies who see the importance of the task, has researched and developed the prototype of Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle or ROV, a remotely-controlled exploration robot that can move underwater to all directions. It is expected to be a prototype for field use. The developed ROV has the capabilities as follows:

• ROV can use quality cameras to send underwater images to ground officers.
• ROV can install various sensors to measure and show results to ground officers.
• ROV can work underwater at a depth of no less than 100 meters.
• ROV can work continuously for at least 3 hours per 1 dive.
• ROV has a navigation system.
• ROV has an automatic movement system to move with a specified underwater path.