ROV: e-Robotic's Deep Water Dock

Saab Seaeye has shown that underwater e-Robotic vehicles can deep water dock at remote sub-resident resident docking stations for data transfer, assignment instructions and battery charging.

This is significant for both the offshore energy industry and ocean science who have been watching developments in residency technologies for the substantial operational and financial benefits possible from remote residency.

Saab Seaeye said that its iCON based Sabertooth AUV/ROV vehicle, fitted with a Blue Logic inductive device, can now successfully dock in a safe and controlled manner at different kinds of remote stations.

“The Sabertooth is the only hovering autonomous system that can operate in both AUV and ROV modes,” said Jan Siesjö, chief engineer at Saab Seaeye, Sweden, “and is the only vehicle currently on the market capable of undertaking long term residency operations in difficult to access locations.”

The 3,000m rated Sabertooth can be based at a remote location docking station ready to be launched on pre-programmed or man-controlled missions, including inspection, repair and maintenance, research tasks and environmental monitoring. At the docking station, tooling packages are stored, batteries recharged and data transferred via satellite or cable to shore.