Videoray News

Greensea IQ reports it has completed a demonstration of a prototype Autonomous EOD Maritime Response Vehicle (AEMRV) for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and US Navy. Leaning on the capabilities of OPENSEA Edge, the system provides the computing resources needed to power edge perception systems and advanced autonomous behaviors of EOD Workspace, allowing human-on-the-loop autonomy and untethered command and control over the ROV platform.The demo took place over several days in September in the open ocean off the coast of San Diego…

Greensea introduces a new hull crawler that easily attaches a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to a ship hull without magnetics, allowing the operator to “drive” the ROV and payloads over the hull. Initial hull crawlers are designed to work exclusively with the VideoRay Mission Specialist Defender ROV. The hull crawler represents a milestone in Greensea’s hull robotics program, which is advancing navigation and localization capabilities for a fully autonomous robotic hull inspection and proactive in-water cleaning solution. “VideoRay is a valued Greensea partner with a dynamic and powerful ROV.

Ship hull biofouling has significant impacts on fleet readiness, ship performance, cost, and the environment. Biofouling results in increased hydrodynamic drag which results in greater fuel use and greater emissions per distance traveled than a hydraulically-smooth hull. A study by Schultz, et al. found the typical fouling rating (FR) of a US Navy DDG-51 class vessel, FR-30, increases fuel consumption by 10.3% over a hydraulically-smooth DDG-51. Results showed that reducing this…

The shipwreck remains of a historic U.S. Coast Guard cutter have been discovered off of Southern California 100 years after the vessel was lost at sea. In its heyday, the Coast Guard Cutter McCulloch – commissioned in 1897 as a cruising cutter for the U.S. Treasury’s Revenue Cutter Service, a predecessor of the Coast Guard – saw its share of action, having served with Commodore George Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 as part of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron that destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first major battle of the Spanish-American War.

Team ENSTA Bretagne from France won the 11th edition SAUC-E competition, the Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge - Europe. The 2nd prize went to the Tom Kyle team, from the University of Applied Sciences of Kiel (Germany). The UNIFI team with the robot Marta from the University of Florence was awarded the 3rd prize. The other prizes were awarded to: the AUGA team, from the University of Vigo with ACSM, that won the “Collaborator Award”; the ROBOTUIC team, from International University of Canarias, that won the “Rookie of the Year Award”; the ENSTA Bretagne team 2, from France, that won the “Tenacity Award”; the UnivPM team…

Heeding the call to join “An Ocean in Common,” authors flooded the Oceans ‘13 MTS/IEEE San Diego technical program committee with a record number of abstracts in a single day. Special topics include an Ultra-deep track discussing current and prospective robotic technologies, plus a panel of scientists to consider research questions. Oceans2013 Chair Bob Wernli, and Co-Chair Kevin Hardy, developer of the unmanned landers for James Cameron’s DeepSea Challenge Expedition, will be the session conveners. “James’ intention is to be certain the door remains open to other explorers,” Hardy said.

Submerged Recovery & Inspection Services help King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals gather marine data used near proposed oil dril sites. The company used a VideoRay Pro4 ROV to complete more than 200 kilometers (or, approximately 124 miles) of bathymetry and biotope survey transects in the Red Sea to gain a baseline assessment to see if there were any critical habitats area's in or near several proposed oil well drill sights. The expedition had a very tight time schedule…

Retired US Navy EOD expert, Mark W. Mark W. Fleming has been appointed to the newly created position as VideoRay LLC’s Business Development Manager for Military and Government sales. He will be responsible for building on VideoRay’s extensive network of underwater solutions for Ship Hull Pier / Dock Inspection and Response. VideoRay underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are the most popular systems worldwide for “micro or mini” sized remotely operated vehicles. During his thirty years in the U.S. Navy, Mr.

SeeByte, the global leader in creating smart software technology for unmanned systems, and VideoRay the world leader in Inspection Class-ROV technology, have announced their decision to enter a partnership with the aim of developing solutions to improve value to their customers. The decision follows the success of SeeByte’s SeeTrack CoPilot integration with the VideoRay micro ROV which was demonstrated at VideoRay’s VIPS 2011 conference last month in Florida. The demonstration…

VideoRay LLC has shipped 30 of its MicroROV units and four Lighted Auxiliary Zoom Inspection Camera (LAZIC) unites as part of a $500,000+ order from the Taiwan Coast Guard. The VideoRays will reportedly be used for hull inspections and other underwater investigations to support Homeland Security initiatives. The systems purchased have a depth rating of 500 ft., 500 ft. of tether, a Tether Deployment System portable reel, two video cameras, and other features for quickly and easily inspecting underwater threats and investigating potential smuggling operations.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the largest independent institution of its kind in the world, recently began developing a new piston corer for retrieving sediments from the ocean floor. Once complete in 2006, the deep-water coring system will be the largest in the U.S. and among the biggest in the world. The corer’s enormous weight — 25,000 pounds — coupled with the environmental demands associated with working in water up to 20,000 ft. deep presented major technical challenges to the system required to lower the corer to the sea floor then recover it, along with its ancient sediment samples. Located in Cape Cod, Mass.…

VideoRay LLC released what is believed to be the first images taken underneath a grounded cruise ship. When the United States Coast Guard’s Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) 91101, based in Seattle, Washington responded to the grounding of the 360 foot passenger overnight sternwheeler Empress of the North, a VideoRay ROV was used to investigate the conditions under the hull. Shortly after deploying the ROV, the MSST saw dramatic images as the robot swam under the vessel and revealed that a large boulder had actually punctured the hull. The team immediately worked out a new refloating plan, which was ultimately successful. The Empress of the North ran aground on March 24 on the Columbia River, near Washougal, Washington. Aground it sat at an 8 – 10 degree list.

VideoRay has been awarded a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in conjunction with its recent General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule award. The agreement expires in September, 2010, and involved a VideoRay Port Security configuration that has been deployed in nine Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) locations over the last two years. The BPA allows for advantageous pricing based on the quantity of units purchased. With the BPA the USCG placed its first task order, which involves the remaining MSST units and the first Port Security Unit (PSU) deployment. The task order includes training and maintenance services with each system, and at the completion of this task order all MSST units will be equipped with VideoRay systems.