Servo - July 2010

DIY ROV

If you'd like to get your hands dirty, err, wet with some hands-on experience piloting your own ROV, there is a set of detailed construction documents available from Robert Gordon University (RGU) School of Engineering. Dubbed the RGU ROV, this experimental model is claimed to have been derived from BEAM-like technology and is designed for shallow freshwater environs like a bathtub or swimming pool.

www4.rgu.ac.uk/eng/robotics/page.cfm?pge=8192

a riser insertion tube tool (RITT) — was then connected to a one mile long section of pipe leading up to the drill ship, Discoverer Enterprise (which can hold approximately 5 million gallons of oil). Using ROVs, the RITT was inserted into the damaged 21 inch diameter well head riser pipe that was leaking the oil.

According to Kent Wells, senior executive vice president of BP, " ... we do have oil and gas coming to the ship now, we do have a flare burning off the gas, and we have the oil that's coming to the ship going to our surge tank."

This small success was not achieved without its share of failure, however. BP had initially begun trying to insert the RITT on May 14, but the connection to the drill ship failed and the entire tube/pipe assembly had to be brought back to the surface for adjustments.

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