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TECH TALK: A Guide to Underwater Lingo

Baffled by underwater techno-babble? No problemheres the insiders guide to

Underwater Lingo.

ROV stands for Remotely Operated Vehicle. These unoccupied underwater robots are

controlled by an operator (or pilot) on board a ship or, in our case, students at the side

of the swimming pool. Underwater robots are regularly referred to as vehicles, as in

Remotely Operated Vehicles. They can be as small as a shoebox or as large as a pickup

truck. MATE competition ROVs are about the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet.

Tether: This is the cable that carries electrical signals running between the operators

control panel and the underwater robot. A tether is a mixed blessingit provides large

amounts of convenient power and carries significant quantities of data, but the tethers

mass, stiffness and length all impede the motion of the ROV. A large tether is often

called an umbilical.

Mission: Underwater vehicles of all kinds have specific work they are expected to

accomplish. This is their missionhopefully its not impossible!

Payload: Every ROV is equipped with a range of equipment, called a payload, that is

designed to accomplish its intended mission. Small eyeball ROVs may carry only a

camera and lights, to provide on-site monitoring. More sophisticated equipment includesnavigation instruments that detect and record the vehicles depth, direction, and

geographic position, sensors that measure water clarity, light penetration, salinity and

temperature or sonar that can survey the ocean bottom to locate lost ships or downed

aircraft. Often payload instruments on larger workclass ROVs are mounted on

interchangeable tool sleds, depending on the mission.

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Manipulators: These are the human-like arms and hands, or grabbers, that collect

samples, repair equipment or retrieve objects underwater, depending on the ROVs

mission. The manips are remotely controlled by the pilot at the surface.

Joystick: The ROV pilot uses a joystick (or control switches) in combination with the

vehicles camera and video monitor to maneuver the ROV underwater. The view fromthe camera lens is displayed topside on the pilots monitor. Signals from the joystick

pass down the tether to control the ROVs actions and payload instruments.

Thrusters: These are the motors (most often with propellers) that provide thrust, or

movement, for the ROV. Usually an underwater vehicle has a number of carefully placed

thrusters to provide good directional control.

Why are ROVs important?

Simply put, ROVs let us explore the ocean depths first-hand often going to places too

deep or too dangerous for humans. Although large, sophisticated workclass ROVs canbe extremely costly, they are generally less expensive to build and operate than

submersibles carrying humans.

Today ROVs handle a surprising variety of underwater work at all depths. These jobs

include:

general oceanographic research and environmental surveys (collecting samplesand recording data)

oil and gas exploration and production (pipeline inspection/ repair and structuraltesting of offshore platforms)

laying telecommunication cables underwater construction underwater archaeology and treasure hunting location and recovery of items (from murder weapons to downed aircraft) dangerous inspections of dams or nuclear reactor facilities

Just like commercial ROVs, each year the underwater vehicles in the MATE Center/MTS

Committee ROV Competition are challenged to tasks based on actual missions that

ROVs undertake in the working world.

For example, a previous international ROV competition missions have focused on how

ROVs are used to deploy, install, and maintain equipment associated with ocean

observing systems. Teams designed and built vehicles to deploy and networkinstruments for power and communications as well as recover instruments for

maintenance and repair. The teams also prepared technical reports, poster displays, and

engineering presentations, where they described their vehicle and its systems to a panel of

industry professionals.

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In this way, MATEs ROV competitions help students to develop technical, problem

solving, and teamwork skills and allow them to see the real-world applications of what

they are learning in the classroom and have fun while doing it!