What is an ROV camera?

An ROV camera is any visual imaging system that can be used on underwater ROVs to provide the operator with a perception of the operating environment. The depth rating for an ROV camera usually starts at 300m.

Team Blueprint Lab

fromBlueprint Lab

08 Apr, 2022

autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)

- remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)

- sensors

- swimming robots

An ROV camera is any visual imaging system that can be used on underwater ROVs to provide the operator with a perception of the operating environment. The depth rating for an ROV camera usually starts at 300m.

Most ROVs have a main forward-facing camera for control of the vehicle. Some ROVs will then have additional, auxiliary cameras to provide another point of view. These cameras are sometimes mounted on another point of the vehicle or extended out from the vehicle using a ‘boom mount’ (e.g. a camera on a pole sticking out to the side). If an ROV manipulator is in use, this manipulator will sometimes have a camera at the end-effector providing yet another point of view of the workspace. One should remember that underwater vision systems are usually monocular and therefore do not provide distance information (try catching a ball with one eye closed); development in this area using stereo vision and other sensors is a hot topic in underwater robotics and is currently being pursued by Blueprint Lab to enable more advanced use of manipulator arms and ROV grippers.

What Are The Different Types Of ROV Camera?

There are two main types of underwater or ROV camera:

1. Main ROV Camera

The main ROV camera is the primary means of providing visual information to the ROV operator. These cameras are generally selected to be High-Definition and to have exceptional performance in low-light conditions. They are the primary camera used to pilot the vehicle and are forward-facing. Depending on the size of the vehicle, this camera may also be used for looking at objects of interest or there may be an additional camera for that purpose to deconflict from piloting operations.

An image from the forward-looking camera on the ROV SuBastian of the Schmidt Ocean Institute

Sometimes they are fixed…

Image: Team POLAR's rover Ice Cube in the Norwegian snow. Photo: Laurenz Edelmann, team POLAR

Antarctic rover performs research in the snow

On January 20, Team POLAR showcases its first vehicle for independent climate research in icy, inhospitable regions such as the North and South Poles.

Nicole van Overveld

18 Jan, 2023

Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs)

- hazardous environments

- remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)

Team Polar, a student team at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), took their first rover to perform research in the Norwegian snow in the first week of January. The team is dedicated to developing an independent rover that can perform Antarctic research. This is their first working prototype and the team is eager to set a benchmark for future developments. They will present their findings and the rover itself on the reveal event, January 20, 2023.

The Earth is facing its biggest problem in centuries: climate change. To fight climate change, we need to understand better the factors behind climate change. However, understanding it requires gathering information about our planet in places where nature is still pristine and more or less unaffected by climate change, as well as places where the consequences of global warming and climate change can be observed first-hand. Circumstances like that are usually found in extremely cold, and remote environments like the Arctics, Antarctica, and the oldest glaciers. At the moment, research is often carried out inefficiently and in very expensive and unsustainable ways.

Team Polar wants to create an alternative way to do all kinds of environmental, extensive research in the coldest places of our planet by developing an unmanned rover. This rover will eventually operate and perform research all by itself - similar to how the Martian rovers operate on the surface of Mars - and collect invaluable data about the effects of climate change. The team started its mission in 2018 and now presents its first working prototype: the rover ‘Ice Cube’.

Research in the snow

Development of the rover took place at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, a country notoriously devoid of deep snow most winters these days. That’s why the team took their rover to Trondheim in Norway, to see how their first rover ‘Ice Cube’ perform

WEBINAR Reach Bravo - A New Underwater Robotic Arm - Demo and Q&A

In this webinar (July 2020) we take the first public in-depth look at the Reach Bravo underwater robotic arm system and answer attendees questions.

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