High Definition Seamor ROV for University Research

University of New South Wales takes delivery of new Seamor 300F HD ROV

James Smith, a post doctoral research scientist at the University of New South Wales School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES), together with Professor Iain Suthers, organised a research grant to fund the purchase of a Seamor Advanced 300F High Definition ROV.

The ROV will be used for a wide variety of research projects, including the continual surveying of artificial reefs off Sydney, as well as travelling down to Antarctica for a 6 week underwater investigation of a variety of antarctic ecosystems.

The benefit of using the Seamor ROV is apparent due to its extremely robust design, as well as the only ROV of its kind to be able to deliver full uncompressed raw 1080p high definition video to the control panel. While conducting environmental and ecological surveys, it is important to be able to identify the variety of species encountered. The quality and clarity of the high definition video enables researchers to have the highest level of confidence when it comes to species identification.

ROV Innovations spent 2 days with the researchers at the university, going through basic training such as ROV setup, basic ROV principals, tether management, various techniques in ROV underwater movement, and troubleshooting. Hands on "flying" of the ROV began in the Universities Olympic pool, where the guys quickly mastered the basic ROV manoeuvres. Once they were used to the responsiveness of the Seamor ROV, it was time to take it up a notch. The Sydney Institute of Marine Science (www.sims.org.au) research facility in Chowder Bay in Sydney Harbour provided the perfect environment to test the newfound skills of the researchers.

Throughout the training, the University staff continually found new ways in which the ROV could benefit the variety of research projects that were being undertaken. With the 300m depth rating, 300m of fibre optic tether, dual function manipulator arm (grabber), 4 LED flood lights, and twin lasers for determining scale, and size of biological samples, the options were only limited to the imagination.

A sample of footage taken on the day out at SIMS can be seen below. For best effect, ensure that you maximise the screen to take advantage of the full 1080p high definition.