Real Science:New Robot Advances Underwater Research

With all the talk of Titanic II lately, it is forgotten there are still important things being done to advance underwater exploration. Like at the University of Delaware where they are testing a small Remotely Operated Vehicle. According to The Review,the ROV “has a front camera, a frontward high definition camera, a rear camera and sonar capabilities and is controlled by a joystick, which moves it to the front, back and side to side, while other buttons control the angle of the machine and cameras. The robot requires additional work for the sonar software and incoming data collection, as he says other people are required for such operations.”

And yes there is a Titanic connection of sorts (aside from the obvious ROV use). This ROV will be used in July to locate shipwrecks off Cape Henlopen in Delaware and then head off to the Aegean near Turkey to work with Robert Ballard.

Source: New Robot Advances Underwater Research (4 Mar 2013,The Review)