Aquabotix Endura 300 ROV Ordered by U.S. Navy By RICHARD R....

Aquabotix Endura 300 ROV Ordered by U.S. Navy
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

ARLINGTON, Va. — Aquabotix, a company that builds unmanned underwater vehicles, has secured an order from the U.S. Navy for one of its Endura remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Durval Tavares, chief executive officer of the Fall River, Mass.-based company, told Seapower that the Navy recently procured an Endura 300 ROV for approximately $90,000 for an unspecified purpose.

The delivery showed Aquabotix’s “capability to deliver a cost-effective solution without further research and development,” a spokeswoman for the company said in an e-mail to Seapower.

The Endura 300 ROV is rated for operation at a depth of 300 meters. Tavares said it can carry a variety of payloads, including acoustic sensors, a side-scanning sonar, or a laser scaler, and can be equipped with an ultra-short baseline positional system and the Global Positioning System.

Aquabotix has provided its vehicles primarily to commercial companies in such roles as service in the oil and gas industry, for infrastructure inspection, and for law enforcement, including to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. More than 400 Aquabotix unmanned underwater vehicles have been delivered in 50 nations.

The company manufactures both ROVs and hybrid Autonomous/Remotely Piloted Vehicles, the latter being autonomous with the option by tether to be remotely piloted.

The company also has introduced Live Remote Viewing, which enables a cloud-based link between the underwater vehicles and the internet to allow viewing of imagery of a sensor’s collection from anywhere in the world.