History of ROVs

Uninhabited underwater vehicles (UUV) have come a long way in their development and becoming a necessary tool for many types of underwater work. Having appeared a long time ago, they are still improving and sinking deeper and deeper. At the same time, the scope of their useful use is expanding, which simplifies and preserves the work and life of a person. Now we will tell you when the first ROVs and AUVs appeared, who produced them and what they looked like.

A remotely operated uninhabited underwater vehicle (ROV) is a vehicle that is controlled by an operator or a group of specialists from a ship or from land. Through the cable, which is connected to the ROV, remote control signals are received, and the sensor readings and video signals are transmitted back. The pilot is on the surface, so the device is uninhabited. ROV can be used for various purposes: support for diving operations, search for an object at the bottom and in the water column, inspection work, rescue operations, and others.

SmartDive ROV

At the same time, there are also autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicles (AUV) - a robot moving under water in order to collect information about the bottom topography, structure of the upper layer of sediments, and about the presence of objects and obstacles on the bottom. They are used for environmental monitoring, military work, geological exploration, oceanographic research and other purposes.

The 1950s can be called the time of start of ROV production: the military industry seriously took up the development of this direction. Already in the early 60s, the first successful UUV model was created in the USA, which became the prototype of all modern tethered underwater vehicles.

The Cable-Controlled Underwater Research Vehicle (CURV), developed by the US Navy, was equipped with a sonar and hydrophone, a TV camera and a 35 mm film camera, a 7-function manipulator that could raise large objects to the surface. The CURV immersion depth was 600 m. Later, the US Navy modified the model, creating CURV II and CURV III with an immersion depth of up to 6000 m. These devices were used to raise torpedoes from the bottom, search and rescue operations, search and raise a hydrogen bomb in Spain in 1966 from a depth of 869 m.

CURV III ROV

Great Britain and France joined the creation of ROVs in the 70s, and Germany, Canada and Japan actively began development and production only in the 80s. At the same time, science and business finally discovered such convenient and life-simplifying equipment as ROV. This happened due to the development of offshore oil and gas fields. Prior to this, the devices were used only for military purposes.

In the 1990s, the Japanese ROV JAMSTEC Kaiko sank to a depth of 10,090 meters in the Mariana Trench.

Companies around the world create a wide variety of models of injection molding machines, which leads to the discovery of new areas of their application. The higher the demand, the higher the supply. This mutual process, stimulating the development of underwater vehicles, is observed even now. In the modern foreign market of marine robotics, more than 500 manufacturing companies are developing ROVs.

Companies around the world create a wide variety of models of injection molding machines, which leads to the discovery of new areas of their application. The higher the demand, the higher the supply. This mutual process, stimulating the development of underwater vehicles, is observed even now. In the modern foreign market of marine robotics, more than 500 manufacturing companies are developing ROVs.

Manta ROV

In 2014, we started the SmartDive company. Today, our ROVs are used by various companies from different fields.

With each decade, we are slowly but surely moving away from using the labor of professional divers to the production and operation of robotic underwater vehicles. They allow you to perform part of the tasks under water without loss of quality and danger to humans.

Remote-controlled or autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicles give us opportunities to explore and see with your own eyes those remote corners of the underwater world that a person cannot get into.