Page 644 - The ROV Manual - A User Guide for Remotely Operated Vehicles 2nd edition

$160,000.00 $140,000.00 $120,000.00 $100,000.00
$80,000.00 $60,000.00 $40,000.00 $20,000.00
$50.00
23.1 Standard ROVs 645
FIGURE 23.1
AUV survey (present)
ROV ROV intervention intervention (Average) (Maximum)
(Courtesy 3U Technologies.)
Vehicle day rate
Vehicle crew
Vessel, vessel crew, and fuel
Offshore crew and vessel daily costs.
With today’s advancements in robotics technology and the miniaturization of electronics, it should only be a matter of time until our underwater work systems evolve into something that gives the operator the feeling of telepresence during work tasks. As the operator becomes more efficient, the tasks are completed more quickly, the platform’s downtime will be reduced and the company will increase its profits.
The previous comments were primarily addressing the MSROV to heavy-duty (HD) WCROVs. However, the same considerations and developments apply to the observation class ROVs, espe- cially those that begin to include a work capability, albeit at a much lower level than the HD vehicles. The advancements in electronics and fiber-optic tethers have allowed the miniaturization of many vehicles and provided the bandwidth that allows excellent sensory feedback.
We now have the ability to build the vehicles that can get to the worksite. But who will invest into the future to develop the next generation of work systems? It seems that, as in the past, the work system manufacturers and offshore companies will have to meet in the middle so that the funds are available to solve the problem. Recent advancements in robotic technology are monumen- tal. It seems time to exploit those advancements by applying them to the next generation of under- water vehicles.
The other drawbacks listed earlier, regarding the offshore use of ROVs, are discussed in the following sections.