Page 561 - The ROV Manual - A User Guide for Remotely Operated Vehicles 2nd edition
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  558 CHAPTER 20 Tooling and Sensor Deployment
  20.3 CONCLUSION
OCROVs started out as “flying eyeballs” and soon had a grabber added. Today, the same capability exists with the smaller vehicle. However, today’s vehicles are a lot more capable and reliable and cost a lot less than in previous generations of the same technology. The same thing goes for the manipulators and tooling used on today’s vehicles. The goal from the beginning with vehicles incorporating manipulators has been to do what a diver can do, that is, perform dexterous work with two arms (Figure 20.29).
Work-class vehicles may do even more through the extra strength of today’s manipulators—and do it faster while removing the diver from hazardous environments. Most of these missions are dis- cussed in Chapter 21 of this manual. These new-generation manipulators and tools have become extremely capable and highly reliable. And today, those who need the services of ROVs outfitted with manipulators and tooling have recognized the need to design the deepwater infrastructure to be installed and maintained using ROVs.
Tooling completes the underwater robotic work platform with the ability to provide a full work package all the way to full ocean depth, well beyond the capabilities of humans. With industry- standard ROV-friendly tooling interfaces, provisions are made for robotic intervention from the inception of the engineering project—at the proverbial drawing board—all the way to field opera- tions through to decommissioning. The ROV has become a fully-matured technology and an integral part of the deepwater oilfield.






























































































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