Small

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Underwater Remotely Guided Vehicle Deep Ocean
Engineering, Inc. (DOEI) San Leandro, CA
Small Business Innovation Research

• ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• In order to maximize the capabilities of the
  underwater vehicle, many in-
• novative components were developed under the
  SBIR contract. These
• include a vehicle with a unique thruster
  arrangement to facilitate mani-
• pulative tasks, a spatially correspondent high
  velocity camera pan-and-tilt
• actuator, a gear-reduction drive thruster that
  improves vehicle maneuverability at slow speeds,
  a strong lightweight structural framework
  consisting of
• laminated composite of epoxy-filled glass fiber
  and low-strength flotation material, a pilot's
  chair with a head mounted viewing system and
  single-handed
• joystick controls, and a method of converting
  optical fiber to electrical signals in the
  umbilical cable termination
• Field tests of pilot dexterity with and without
  the telepresent control system were conducted in
  the final stages of the project
• COMMERCIALIZATION
• The components developed under the SBIR contract
  were incorporated
• into a host of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)
  and other products which are sold commercially.
  These include DOEI's ROVs for nuclear
  inspection, tunnel inspection, and several other
  specialized applications. Customers include
  General Electric, Framatome, Entergy, Virginia
  Power, Lousiana Offshore Oil Port, and many U.S.
  Government agencies. Accrued revenue from these
  sales
• is presently in excess of 2.2M

Underwater Remotely Guided Vehicle

• GOVERNMENT/SCIENCE APPLICATIONS
• The NASA underwater vehicle has been loaned to
  the Marine
• Biological Laboratory for a period of two years
  to study
• the squid fishery industry in Monterey Bay,
  California
• This project is being sponsored by the National
  Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Ames Research Center SS 2-010 - Contacts DOEI
- Dr. Phillip Ballou [phone] NASA - Dr.
Stephen Ellis [phone]
1990 Phase 2, Contract No. NAS2-13634