DEEP-DIVING ROBOTS ARE NOW INSPECTING NAVY SHIPS
Hope Seck | March 2, 2022
Small, relatively cheap commercial robots are making a big play for one of the most crucial maintenance jobs on Navy ships.
Earlier this month, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MRMC), a division of Naval Sea Systems Command, hosted a demo aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima in which a VideoRay Pro 4 remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, submerged inside a large ballast tank and used its cameras to inspect the walls for rust, corrosion and other flaws.
According to an MRMC news release, the Feb. 16 demo was attended by 20 leaders in ship maintenance and led by a team from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility near Seattle. Iwo Jima, which typically deploys with Marines on board as part of a three-ship amphibious ready group, changed its homeport from Mayport, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia just ahead of a drydock maintenance period that cost the Navy $200 million and will take the better part of a year. Ship maintenance is time-intensive and expensive, and the Navy is constantly behind schedule.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/deep-diving-robots-are-now-inspecting-navy-ships/
