The Remotely Operated Vehicle, ROV Mate Submersible is crucial for deep sea research at depths where man cannot venture due to hazardous, conditions (see, Figure 1, and advanced scientific ROV used for delving into deep depths and taking samples and photographs for scientific purposes). The ROV Mate is a remote controlled vehicle with one or multiple cameras and a working arm to collect samples, and research deep depths. As a project for high school this would be the beginning to a more in depth undertaking. This ROV Mate will only work in freshwater, limiting testing and evaluation to large tanks and freshwater bodies of water. In the long range, more advanced forms of this can help science greatly for the specific reason that humans are not able to travel to certain depths due to pressure and oxygen shortage. ROV Mates don’t need oxygen and aren’t as expensive as creating a pressure suit for a human to travel to a deep depth. This project has been done before, but it can be improved upon by learning 
from any mistakes made by previous teams and building on their ideas.ROVs are the safest way for scientists to research the deep depths of the sea. It doesn’t put any human lives at risk besides being on the vessel that the ROV is launched off of, but this risk is far lesser than being in human operated vehicle at a depth of two thousand feet. Not only is it safer for human life it is economically better too. To send a human in a submersible to a deep depth it cost much more money to design and engineer a vessel that can support life for a human. First the human operated submersible would need to be study enough to support the pressure of the depths and it would need a supply of oxygen for the passenger to survive. Even after these two necessities are met there is still the possibility that there could be a failure in a computer, the electronics, or any system on the craft, leaving the passenger stranded with no readily available help and no supplies to stay alive for long. Simply stated, an ROV is a more practical, safe and cheap way to undertake underwater research.
After basic research of the ROV MATE Competition, several discoveries have been made. The first of these is the purpose for the ROV MATE Competition each year. The competition has been created and ran every year for the preparation for the future in the marine related occupations. Marine Advanced Technology Education Center, MATE has been around since 1999 and has been holding the competition annually for several years. The ROV being designed and created this school year will be entered into the competition in the late spring of 2008. It will be built according to the specifications of MATE and will be compete against other teams, built up of high school students with similar ROVs. (Marine)
Several teams from the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, MAST, have competed in this competition and recent years. This project is aimed at improving on the efforts of groups past. The aim is to do well in the ROV MATE competition in late spring of 2008. Efforts will be put into the body of the craft, the mechanical arm and the propulsion system; the goal will be all three major finished pieces of the vehicle to work together in unity with guidance from the video surveillance that will be mounted to the vehicle (see, Figure 2, an ROV in competition maneuvering towards the toy balls to pick them up with its mechanical arm). As with winning ROVs in the past the key is unity throughout the system.
Advanced ROVs cost thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. More basic level ROVs that will enter the competition can cost well under a thousand dollars. They structures are generally constructed of PVC piping because it is cheap, compared to high priced, non- rusting metals (see, Figure 2, the structure of this ROV is mostly made up of PVC and the propulsion has easily been mounted on the rear section of this vehicle). PVC is easy to put together and a basic structure can be assembled in many varieties of ways to accommodate for the mechanical arm to be attached, have cameras mounted, as well as fans or pumps for the thrusting and maneuvering of the ROV.
These are some of the basics in regards to an ROV. It is important that all the different parts work together as a single system and that it operates smoothly for the craft to be a success. In doing this the entire team will have to work together to come up with a final design, and construct it well so that it operates well. It will take a sufficient amount of time produce a successful ROV. What time and effort is put into it will reflect in how it performs at the competition.
Picture1: (ROV)
Picture2: (ROV Competition)
Works Cited
Marine Advanced Technology Education Center. 2007. MATE. 8 July 2007.
http://www.marinetech.org/home.php
ROV. 2006. Woods Hole Science Center. 8 July 2007.
ROV Competition. 2005. Western School District. 8 July 2007.
http://www.wnlsd.ca/images/ROV/MateROV%20060.jpg
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