Exeter II: developing and preparing for Santa Clara University's second underwater research vessel

Abstract

In the spring of 1998, a group of Santa Clara University (SCU) undergraduate students formed a team to design and build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Named Triton, the first of the Extreme Environment Teleoperation Enhanced ROV (EXETER) series, the ROV was to be the University's first ever vehicle under direction of the Santa Clara Remote Extreme Environment Mechanisms (SCREEM) Lab. In January of 1999, the preparation and development of the second ROV, II, began under the learning experiences gained from EXETER I: Triton. As Team Triton paved the path for the University's first attempt at designing their own ROV, many valuable lessons were learned that will be passed on to future ROV teams. Exeter II plans to start where triton left off, hoping to be the next valuable link to the future of ROV design and development at SCU. Primary plans for Exeter II include working with West Coast and Polar Regions Undersea Research Center (WC&PRURC) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The Exeter II team will be gathered by the end of spring of 1999. Experience will be gained this summer through a regimen of ROV research through MBARl's summer internship program and ROV deployment through WC&PRURC. The planned summer research will include the integration of a highly advanced laser assisted imaging system used for subsequent measurement analysis, onto an ROV. The deployment of the ROV should also give valuable experience and design ideas to the EXETER II team.