Page 643 - The ROV Manual - A User Guide for Remotely Operated Vehicles 2nd edition

644 CHAPTER 23 The Future of ROV Technology
So, with such great acclaim for the existing state of ROV technology, where will it go from here? The greatest benefits of today’s ROVs include:
• The operator can relax in a comfortable control room.
• High-definition cameras provide excellent visual feedback over high-bandwidth communication
channels (fiber optics).
• The ROV can operate indefinitely (assuming no reliability problems are experienced).
• High-power hydraulics (up to 250 HP—or more!) allow for operation of tools and manipulators
specifically designed to interface with the underwater equipment for conducting drilling and
construction support or inspection, repair, and maintenance (IRM).
• Efficient thrusters, along with the sufficient power plants, allow the ROVs to operate in higher
currents.
• These vehicles are designed to be transportable, in many cases, to vessels of opportunity to
conduct work in remote locations.
That is an excellent set of attributes! However, there are also drawbacks to today’s larger ROVs:
• The larger the vehicle, the larger the footprint for the cable handling as well as launch and recovery equipment.
• If not mobilized on a drilling rig of some type, the larger ROV system requires a dynamically positioned (DP) MSV.
• The umbilical/tether limits their operational footprint, especially when operating from the rig itself. Operation from an MSV extends the range of the vehicle but at day rates that may range to $100,000 or more.
• Although the manipulators and viewing systems provide adequate capabilities, they still do not give the operator an anthropomorphic-like remote telepresence at the work site.
Where will the ROVs go from here? The bottom line is still pushed by the “bottom line.” Money talks. The ROV truck is there and it is powerful. So when there is a problem offshore, the ROV can be brought into play and the problem corrected. But the time it takes to fix the problem costs a lot of money. A production platform that is shut down while an ROV solves the problem may lose hundreds of thousands of dollars per day, whereas a deepwater drilling project, rig and support vessels included, could be $1 million or more per day. Just the cost of an offshore vessel and crew can reach levels of over $100,000 per day (Figure 23.1). Therefore, the working end of the vehicle has to become more efficient.
Non-anthropomorphic manipulator systems do not lend themselves to natural human motions. Our arms are not designed like a praying mantis, so our work systems should also not be designed with elbows only up or down. Today’s manipulators and their respective controllers are very capa- ble, but they can be better. If the controllers and manipulators do not feel natural to the operator, then fatigue will set in much faster.
Considerable research has been conducted in the past to give the operator the feeling of being at the work site. This remote presence included:
• Anthropomorphic manipulators with force feedback
• Stereo vision
• Binaural hearing