Saab Seaeye's Falcon Flies High
In 2020, Saab Seaeye sees the Falcon flying high as the top-selling electric underwater robotic vehicle in its 34-year history.Launched nearly 20 years ago, its design has kept the pioneering concept in step with two decades of global technological advances.The Falcon has opened up many new sectors to the potential of robotics, from marine science to aquaculture and from wind energy to hydroelectric dams.The design created a small, powerful, multi-tasking, easy to use, reliable and robust vehicle - with intelligence.Just a meter-long and rated 300 to 1000 meters depth, the Falcon’s five powerful
Remotely Operated Vehicles: Thinking out of the Box
All electric systems are starting to free companies from the traditional strict form factors that ROVs traditionally take. With a more flexible modular harness, vehicles can be built from standardised building blocks. Saab Seaeye, a firm well versed in all-electric vehicles, has been making noises in this direction, using the smarts it’s been developing for the Sabertooth for new electric vehicles.Another firm looking to enter the resident vehicle space is UK-based subsea machinery firm SMD. During Offshore Europe, it launched its Quantum EV ROV. While the Quantum EV ROV made the headlines
Environmental DNA Emerging in the Ocean Science Community
perform qPCR unattended, while submerged. The instrument was commercialized and is now available from McLane Research Laboratories. This instrument, while functional, is larger and challenging to deploy.More recently, a new version of the ESP has been developed for use aboard an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). In 2009 MBARI initiated an effort to re-engineer the ESP to fit on the long-range AUV, a novel AUV developed there. The new instrument, like its predecessor, was designed for both select sample analysis and sample preservation. Unlike its predecessors, however, the new ESP design concept
Kongsberg Develops New LARS for HUGIN AUVs
Norway's Kongsberg Maritime has developed a new LARS (Launch and Recovery System) solution for its HUGIN range of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), which it says will bring "a series of far-reaching operational improvements."Kongsberg has decided to have the new LARS operating from midships, with the release and capture of HUGIN marine robots occurring beneath the sea surface."Launching and recovering AUVs underwater, away from the splash zone, lessens the possibility of their being damaged, while midships deployment averts any likelihood of AUVs being run over by the launch
Stinger Prepping Kawasaki's SPICE AUV
Japanese industrial giant Kawasaki Heavy Industries has contracted the Norwegian underwater drone specialist Stinger, to help it test its prototype AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle).Stinger said last weekend that it would provide Kawasaki with services related to planning and preparing site testing of an AUV equipped with a robot arm for performing subsea pipeline inspections."The underwater intervention drone is based on a fusion of submarine technologies and industrial robot technologies fostered in-house over many years in Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd," Stinger said.The preparation
SubSeaSail G6 Platform Passes the Test
The Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) along with logistical support from the US Navy successfully tested their SubSeaSail G6 platform at multiple coastal sites off the Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. Remote sensing applications for monitoring underwater unexploded ordnance were demonstrated by mounting a passive filter assembly to the G6 platform to detect explosive compounds in the water. Additionally, a water quality sensor was mounted to monitor other water quality parameters including temperature, salinity, depth, and turbidity. During
HII Completes Hydroid Acquisition
global markets.The acquisition of Hydroid, based in Pocasset, Mass., expands HII’s capabilities in the rapidly growing autonomous and unmanned maritime systems market. Hydroid will become part of HII’s Technical Solutions Unmanned Systems business unit that now includes unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) such as the Orca extra-large UUV that is produced in partnership with Boeing as well as Proteus, a large, dual-mode UUV operated out of Panama City, Fla. With the addition of Hydroid, HII now has capabilities in the medium and small UUV space from the REMUS and Seaglider autonomous underwater
MBARI Works at Unlocking Ocean Biology
Greater understanding of what goes on in the ocean is starting to become a reality – thanks to growing use of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles and developments in biological sensing. Elaine Maslin takes a look at what a team at MBARI has been doing.Gathering biological data from the oceans remains a significant challenge for oceanographers. Now, an increasing range of unmanned vehicles that are able to work together is becoming available, as is an ability to collect biological data using them.It sounds straight forward, but traditionally the collection and processing of biological
Electric Motor Selection for Underwater Vehicles: Considerations of Partial Load Efficiency
It is easy to appreciate why permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) are popular for use in underwater vehicles (UVs). They are compact and efficient with a high power density. More importantly, perhaps, they allow for effective operation across a broad RPM range which is beneficial for vehicles with multiple operating conditions. That said, we find vehicle product developers are often uncertain about a motor’s “efficiency”. This article offers a few comments from the perspective of a propeller designer, developing the components that puts the load on a UV’s motor.We first
Amman Mineral Orders Forum ROV for Subsea Mining Support
Indonesian mining firm Amman Mineral has ordered an ROV from Forum Energy Technologies to support its mining operations at Indonesia's second-largest copper and gold mine.Forum Energy Technologies said Friday that, under the order, it would supply one of its observation-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), to be deployed at Batu Hijau on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, for subsea mining operations. The Sub-Atlantic brand Super Mohawk II ROV system will be equipped with two five-function manipulator arms for complex underwater procedures. The new asset will replace the company&rsquo
Mine Disposal System Integrated on VideoRay ROV
U.K. based ECS Special Projects has developed the Viper Mine Disposal System for the VideoRay Mission Specialist Defender remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). The setup employs twin shot Viper disposal systems with the capability of attaching to multiple targets. They can be initiated using a shock tube link to the surface or by using acoustic initiation.And the two companies announced a new collaborative agreement aimed at expanding the capabilities of their products for military applications and the commercial market.Steve Randall, Operations Director at ECS Special Projects, said his company
Nido Robotics Debuts Two Underwater Drones
Nido Robotics has launched Sibiu Pro and Sibiu Nano underwater drones. Sibiu Pro and Sibiu Nano underwater drones offer a new degree of precision, flexibility and convenience to sectors ranging from aquaculture to search & rescue. Nido Robotics' CEO and co-founder Roy Torgersen was engaged on a dive in 2012 in Papua New Guinea to locate the wreckage of a downed USS Dakota plane. The thought occurred to him that deep-sea missions of that nature, often conducted in extreme conditions, would be made substantially easier and safer with the use of suitably adaptable, affordable and
Fugro, Sea-Kit in Uncrewed Surface Vessel Team-Up
Dutch offshore survey company Fugro has teamed up with SEA-KIT, winner of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, to develop a new range of agile and compact uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) which can deploy remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for marine asset inspections. Fugro and SEA-KIT plan to accelerate the development and use of uncrewed vessels, remotely operated from Fugro’s remote operations centers, to improve safety, efficiency, and reduce the environmental impact on marine activities. The new range of USVs will consume up to 95 % less fuel than
Ransomware: The IT Danger on the Horizon
systems, leading to increased reliability and efficiency for vessel operators. For ports and other infrastructure hubs, many key industrial systems now have physical connectivity with the outside world through integration with internal IT-based control systems. Autonomous cranes and driverless flatbed vehicles are now crucial elements in the world’s largest ports.Yet the threats that get the greatest attention are not always those that pose the most imminent threat. Attacks that could cause safety-critical failures are theoretically possible—in fact, NCC Group has modelled such attacks with
Modern-Day Mayflower Sets Sail Ahead of 400th Anniversary Voyage
Four hundred years after the Mayflower crossed the Atlantic from Britain to the United States, a group of engineers plan to have a crewless-ship also named the Mayflower, navigate itself along the same route.The voyage is due to begin in September and the new Mayflower could become the first full-sized, fully autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic, organizers IBM and marine research group Promare say.The original Mayflower ship transported 102 British settlers from England to America. They would become the first pilgrims to land there.A hull designed in the Polish port city of Gdansk set off by road
Copenhagen Subsea Debuts the Gorilla ROV
Copenhagen Subsea launched a new powerful Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), specifically developed for the offshore industry. The ROV is based on Copenhagen Subsea’s rim-driven thruster technology and is designed to be robust and reliable in challenging environments – qualities which inspired us to name it the Gorilla.In fact, reliability has been first and foremost throughout the design and development of the Gorilla. By basing the ROV on industrial components, Copenhagen Subsea was seeking to ensue the utmost operational reliability.The Gorilla is equipped as standard with an intelligent
Ocean Infinity’s Hunt for the Submarine San Juan
acoustic signal and reduce the ellipse. It showed the submarine had dropped in water deeper than 100m, which meant it was beyond the recoverable water depth.The search, however, continued and Ocean Infinity was brought in. Since the firm started operating in 2016, disrupting the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) space by deploying multiple AUVs from one vessel on search or survey missions, the company has made a name for itself in a number of international search efforts.Ocean Infinity committed to conduct the search operation for up to 60 days and to covers its cost, unless the submarine was found
Water Drone Christened in the Port of Hamburg
A 1.65-meter-long water drone, also known as unmanned surface vehicle (USV), was christened on Wednesday morning. The USV named Echo.1 is dedicated to measure water depth and can work continuously for up to six hours without emissions.Senator for Economic Affairs Michael Westhagemann and Jens Meier, Managing Director of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Rike Verheye from the HPA Hydrography christened the yellow drone.According to HAP, Echo.1 will be able to travel up to six hours at a time in the harbor to improve the understanding of the water depths and provide information about the condition of
Sonardyne Unveils New Products
SPRINT-Nav Mini is said to provide precise, robust and fixed frequency outputs, independent of each individual sensor’s update rates. In replacing the need for three separate instruments; AHRS, DVL and pressure sensors – customers should benefit from reduced cost, less cabling and additional vehicle payload capacity. SPRINT-Nav Mini comes in a highly compact 215 mm-high and 149 mm-diameter housing and is also available in a 4,000 m-rated titanium unit of the same size making it ideal for smaller remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).Sonardyne is also introducing its second-generation Gyro
Kraken Reports Contracts Worth $2.8 Million
it has recently received orders from four U.S. companies and one Canadian company totalling $2.8 million. The company expects to fulfill these contracts in the first half of 2020.A new customer primarily targeting the defense industry will be using Kraken SeaPower batteries in its autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). Kraken currently expects another battery order from this customer in the third quarter of this year.An existing defense industry customer is acquiring additional SeaPower This is the customer’s third order of Kraken batteries.An existing customer, a large defense contractor, is acquiring
