Faculty Sponsors: A. E. Linkins, Farrokh Attarzadeh

Motivation

Remotely operated vehicles are becoming increasingly important in the in the homeland security, defense and off-shore petroleum industry sectors. They are used for the construction and monitoring of the deep sea infrastructures necessary for the exploration, removal and transport of crude oil and gas to tankers and/or onshore refineries. For homeland security and defense, the integration of remote vehicle operations into the security observation networks is critical for safe and effective observation, strategic planning and response. In all cases, continued development and training is essential to the success of these endeavors.

Project Description

The Marine Technology Society in conjunction with the ROV National Training Center has developed a Skills, Knowledge and Attitude (SKA) protocol for the marine ROV industry. Currently, the University of Houston's College of Technology, the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) and the Center for Life Sciences Technology (CLiST) are working with Perry Slingsby Systems Inc., a company engaged in ROV and deep seas support systems, to bring the MTS ROV protocol into the education and research development arena. It is the objective of this proposed activity to provide students with internship experiences at Perry Slingsby that demonstrate research and design relevance of ROV use in "real world" applications as derived from laboratory exercise of the CORE.

Undergraduate Opportunities

Students will learn about the critical integration of technical and academic research with their attitude and skills as they are applied in developing useful and effective ROV equipment and operational software that can operate in "real world" situations. Students will follow the application of design and construction to experiential testing of concepts and applications with both their academic advisors and industry engineers and operators.