New concepts for smart ROV to increase efficiency and productivity

Recently, lowering the costs of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and their operation has become a top priority. It causes the development of IT-based underwater robotics technologies, which have not been welcomed by the conservative market thus far. This paper proposes new concepts for a light, work-class ROV called the Smart ROV, intended for underwater construction work. The goals are to decrease the size of the ROV body and to increase the work capabilities with regard to the efficiency and productivity, which reduces the cost for not only ROV operations but also mothership operations. Consequently, the operational scope of light, work-class ROVs is expected to expand. The principle underlying the proposed concept is based on an advanced man-machine interface, which comprises three groups of high-quality imaging systems, an underwater virtual sound-generating system, and a multiple-sensor fusion-based haptic system. Additionally, there is a new coarse wavelength-division multiplexing-based distributed network to distribute the data processing load and risk of system faults. To increase the efficiency and productivity, we implement several special algorithms to assist the operator and design subsystems to minimize the downtime through a modular design. The proposed concepts will be applied to our new Smart ROV before 2016, and the first sea trial will be conducted in 2017.