Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have become an essential part of deep water oil and gas explorations. First developed from technology funded by the US Navy in the 1960s, ROVs have allowed for the capability to perform deep-sea rescue operations and recover objects from the ocean floor. An ROV is an underwater robot which is linked to a ship by a tether that transfers electrical power, video and data signals back and forth between the operator and vehicle. An ROV is operated by a team of people including the operations controller, submersible engineer, submersible pilot, observer, winch operator and deployment systems operator.

With the offshore industry moving into deeper waters, new challenges have arisen for the standard methods of ocean floor mapping. In deep water, ROVs have become the only method of installing hardware, performing maintenance checks and rectifying problems. These challenges are being overcome by new innovations in survey technology that aim to enhance data quality, acquisition efficiency and safety, and improve risk mitigation.

A future prospect for offshore surveying is the advent of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). These are unmanned robotic devices similar in appearance to a small submarine, fitted with all of the conventional survey sensors used to map the ocean floor. The technology continues to develop rapidly and presents many more benefits over the use of ROVs. A recent example of this was following the failure of the drilling operations on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig in the Gulf of Mexico, where in the immediate aftermath of the event, ROVs were used first to examine and try to fix the malfunctioning ‘Blow out Preventer’ (BOP) and then to manoeuvre and install a range of devices designed to stop the flow of oil.

Video: Whale encounters ROV operation.