PantheROV IV prowls the deep at International ROV Competition

Posted: October 1, 2008

PantheROV IV approaches its target, a simulated ocean-bottom seismometer. (Photo: Tom Consi)

When valuable scientific equipment became stuck in hardened lava at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in 2006, researchers turned to a remotely operated vehicle—an ROV—to get it back.

Over the course of the last school year, a team of UW-Milwaukee (UWM) engineering and computer science undergraduates designed and built an ROV of their own, with the hope the machine could successfully perform a mock version of the same recovery mission. Then they put their creation to the test at the seventh annual International ROV Competition.

The competition, sponsored by the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center, was held this past summer at the University of California, San Diego. Twenty-seven teams from around the country as well as Canada and Russia competed in the college-level portion of the event.

This was the fourth straight year of competition for the UWM ROV team, advised by Great Lakes WATER Institute (GLWI) scientist Tom Consi.

ROVs have been around since at least the 1950s. Piloted from the surface via a tether, these unmanned underwater vehicles are used for scientific exploration and to inspect offshore oil platforms, lay oceanic cables, and recover the “black boxes” of downed airplanes. ROVs were also used to explore the Titanic and retrieve the sunken Liberty Bell 7 space capsule. GLWI researchers routinely use them to collect samples and observe habitat in Lake Michigan.

This year’s competition challenged teams to use their ROVs to free a device known as an ocean bottom seismometer (simulated by a plastic box) from hardened lava (simulated by weights) at the bottom of a pool. The teams also had to attempt to collect “lava” samples, and measure the temperature of hot water escaping from a nearby hydrothermal vent (simulated by a pipe).

PantheROV IV, above the surface. (Photo: Tom Consi)

Team designed, built competitive ROV

UWM’s team began working on the design of its ROV last fall after receiving several tutorials on underwater robotics. Dubbed PantheROV IV in honor of the UWM Panthers, the vehicle consists of an aluminum body fitted with a video camera, thrusters for steering, a clawed arm for collecting samples, and a probe for measuring temperature. A tether provides a communications link between the ROV’s onboard computer and a surface laptop computer, and also carries power and video signals.

The team’s six students—one majoring in computer science, the others in civil, electrical, materials, or mechanical engineering—built much of the ROV themselves rather than purchase pre-made parts. The vehicle’s thrusters, for instance, were machined by the group’s two mechanical engineering students.

“Our team prides itself on designing and building its own ROV,” said Consi. He said the experience is

especially valuable for students because even simple ROVs are fundamentally the same as the more sophisticated, commercial ROVs.

By early June, PantheROV IV was packed up and on its way to California. During the competition, teams were given two 15-minute opportunities to complete the challenge. Team UWM didn’t earn any points in its first attempt due to an ineffective sampling arm, a communications failure with the temperature probe, and thruster steering problems.

UWM ROV team members pose with the inspiration for this year's International ROV Competition: a real seismometer, recovered from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by an ROV. (Photo: Tom Consi)

But, said Consi, the team was determined to improve the vehicle in time for its second attempt five hours later. “We went to lunch,” he explained, “and then to the university’s bookstore to look for ‘stuff’ to use for last-minute innovations.”

That “stuff” included a wire bookstand and a scoop that the students attached to the ROV to increase the vehicle’s ability to remove lava from the stuck seismometer. A cut-off top of a soda bottle became a funnel that the team affixed to the temperature probe, in effect making the probe wider. Team members also fixed a broken wire in the probe and tweaked the software that controls the ROV’s thrusters.

Those last-minute efforts paid off, at least in part: Although the ROV again failed to remove lava during the second attempt, it measured the hydrothermal vent’s temperature almost exactly. Points earned for partial completion of the mission, along with additional points earned from a technical report, poster presentation, and oral presentation, landed the team in 14th place.

Consi said he considers PantheROV IV’s performance a huge success. That’s because the vehicle earned the team 70 of 200 possible points during the mission attempt—the highest mission score ever earned to date by a PantheROV. What’s more, a third of this year’s teams scored no points at all during the mission.

Ready for the real world

The experience also was a success in terms of the professional skills and knowledge the team members gained. Computer science student Sam Bingham said that along with being fun and rewarding, the project taught him about time management and working as part of a team. He also learned about embedded system programming. “I’d never done that type of programming before, so I gained confidence that it’s possible for me to do it,” he said.

Consi said the ROV experience of many former team members ended up figuring prominently in their subsequent job interviews.

Korey Verhein (left) surveys Alvin, the manned submersible that famously explored the Titanic. The former president of the UWM ROV team, Verhein now works for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as an Alvin electronics technician. (Photo courtesy Korey Verhein)

One PantheROV alumnus, Don Murray—now

an electrical design engineer at Astronautics Corporation of America in Milwaukee—said a portfolio he assembled based on his ROV work was a big hit with interviewers. “One of the interviewers literally threw his printed page of questions aside, pointed at my portfolio, and said, ‘Let’s talk about this.’  So my ‘interview’ ended up consisting of me talking for an hour about the ROV team and GLWI,” he said.

For some alumni, the skills and knowledge gained on the ROV team are directly applicable in their current jobs. Former ROV team president Korey Verhein, for example, now works for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as an electronics technician on Alvin, the manned submersible that famously explored the Titanic in 1986 alongside the ROV Jason Jr.

Join the club!

Any UWM student is welcome to join the ROV team, which is an official university club, funded by GLWI, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and the UWM Student Association. “You can come to the team with knowledge, or simply with interest and enthusiasm,” said Consi. “We’ll train you and you’ll learn on the job.”

This year's team is forming now. For more information, contact team president Sam Bingham at sbingham@uwm.edu or visit the team’s website at waterbase.glwi.uwm.edu/rovteam.

–Jennifer Yauck