SurfROVer: An ROV designed for traversing the littoral zone

Powered umbilical ROVs have steadily increased in capabilities and utilization for applications in deep water where they can be readily “flown” to perform inspections and survey projects. But the littoral zone, where surf conditions, insufficient depth, and the hazards of shore proximity present special challenges, remains relatively unexplored. SurfROVer is a battery-operated crawler that is the latest in a line of special purpose ROVs designed by SeaView Systems (Dexter, Michigan, USA). SurfROVer is designed to be able to traverse from shore and into the surf zone targeting applications such as route surveys, Un-eXploded Ordnance (UXO) surveys, cable/pipeline tracking, as well as applications in otherwise impassible surf such as active surf bathymetry surveys.