June 7, 2004
Cool Underwater ROV
Though we often think of autonomous vehicles as ground or sometimes flight vehicles, there are a whole bunch of them that operate in other environments. This one is a particularly nice underwater vehicle that is used for remote inspections in cold murky water. It follows from the rule of three D's: Dangerous, Dirty, or Dull is where machines are used in place of people. This one in particular is a spin-off from Homeland Security applications.
Posted by elkaim at June 7, 2004 1:39 PMSputtering along the Elizabeth River, the small yellow-and-black vehicle wove half-circles near the pleasure boats moored at Waterside, looking like a child's toy alongside the larger watercraft.
But no toy could go where this 8-pound gizmo was heading. With a flick of a switch, police harbor patrol Officer Norman Harris turned on its submerged head lamps, and twin cones of light appeared in the water in front of the tiny craft.
"Going down," Harris said.
The tiny, remote-operated submersible vehicle slipped under the surface and glided into the tea-colored water, trailing a yellow umbilical cable. The vehicle, called the VideoRay, sends underwater images back to a video monitor.
It's one of two new high-tech gadgets giving city police eyes under the waves. A side-scan sonar device towed behind a police boat located a car that was submerged last year.
Both devices were purchased with about $39,000 in federal funds dedicated to homeland security, Harris said. Police have long relied on divers to seek victims of drowning or suicide and evidence of crimes.