Tech skills f ROV pilots

well perrys xlx/xls and schilling uhd both have autoposition capabilities but you still have to operate the fooking thing!!
its a nice feature when working around manifolds etc but no use when you are above 30 metres off seabed!!!
i know perry in the future would like to be able to connect the xlx systems to jupiter in the USA for diagnostics and updates.
when that will happen is anyones guess????

Yes, I would think, so in the future. There are already DP system for ROV’s out in the field and swapping boards to fix the problem has become a norm. But for right now, us experienced guys have to make sure the system is running and fix whatever problems there are in minimum time.
When we are short in spares, we have to fix the boards, valves and motors with whatever we got with whatever experiences we’ve got.
The engineers and manufacturers thought AUV will take over ROV’s job in short time but the ROV system spread are getting bigger and bigger to accomodate for more complex jobs out there! 😯
I guess what I’m saying is, it is up to us individual ROV tech’s to keep up with new technology and at the same time remember the old school thinking to use it when required!! 😛

Modern PCB’s cannot be repaired at component level. Open a WiFi router and see if you could repair it on PCB component level. Old Systems can still be repaired like this but the components will soon be obsolete and will disappear.

The furure is repair by replacement of PCB’s after auto diagnosis. The military already uses these systems. Modern thinking is Logistically Replaceable Units (LRU’s) including motors etc. but pilot techs will always have to be able to make up and replace hydraulic pipes and fittings as well as jury rig many other things to be succesful.

A few other manufacturers as well…

Well i thought i should weigh in on this one. my comments will probably ruffle a few feathers……!

First comment, the basic technology in most workclass ROV’s is hardly advancing at all, apart from the electric beasts.

I mean almost all still have simple AC electric motors coupled to very basic mechanically controlled hydraulic pumps, which in turn feed oil to banks of either servo or proportional valves which then send it to either hydraulic motors or actuators. Now because I just said they are running basic technology doesnt mean that you need unskilled techs, techs need to be able to first and foremost accurately find the problem then preform the safe and corrrect repair, which in most cases is swap with a new part.

The electronics side of ROV’s is advancing at a rather fast pace. It is once again not that the components themselves are becoming extremely complex and unservicable but that the complete system is very complex. GONE are the days of 422 copper telemetry from the pilot computer all the way to the SUB. Now you have ethernet networks between the pilot console and the pilot/aux PC, into the fiber modem along with many other survey and auxilary equipment, into the vehicle Survey/FO Can where it again breaks out into all its different paths. This is just one example of how the rather simple system has been extremelly complicated but still preforms the same basic task. As well as the systems being complex they are becoming more and more relient on PC based operating systems and networking systems, exspecially windows. Which as I am sure we all know is not known for being stable and or trust worthy. As well as many many people seem to have finger trouble when working with systems that are PC based, meaning that "what do you mean it’s not working, its on deck and was working 5 min ago. What did you do…..ummmm nothing……i just wanted to change the desktop background………..Aghhhhhhhh"

I guess what I am getting at is that even tho the systems from a overview are very complex with all these new fancy features. When it all comes down to it the parts that do the work are very simple and you usually have lots of spares to swap if they do break, its how it all works together that is complex

One example the industry buzz word of the moment "Station keeping or auto piloting" well of all the systems that I have seen with this capability in the background it is really very simple. I will use a DVL based system as an example, which only works when the DVL is in range of the bottom. All the DVL does is track speed over ground in the X,y,z planes, now if you feed these simple numbers into the ROV control computer and reconfigure some autocontrollers now to station keep all the vehicle has to do is keep those three numbers @ 0 eureka the ROV is station keeping. ROV’s have been doing this for years with heading and depth. I know before anyone gets upset i did simplify it a little because a DVL does measure and output other things as well, and some systems use USBL/INS/DVL systems but is still get broken down to the ROV as simple numbers.

I dont see the problem being that people are unskilled but rather that the majority of ROV pilot techs do not fully understand the complete system and how all its components work together. I do believe that we are fast getting away from actual component level repairs and more to swapping defective boards/parts out. But this only works when you have expierenced, knowledgable techs who are able to CORRECTLY find the problem before switching parts out. I am sure we have all gone through hours of hell because of not being able to correctly indentify the problem in the first place.

As much as I know that some of you will not want to hear this, I feel that the older techs who have been predomently working with the older systems and technology will have the hardest time in the future with the new technology, only because they have been trained over many years with much different systems. HOWEVER I feel that even tho its intimidating at first when you move from a older system to a new one if you step back and first fully understand the system as a whole, you will do much better.

Sorry for the longwinded essay but I have had many many instance’s in the last couple months of people just not understanding the system and making bad situations a lot worse.

Subsea addy…

I disagree, us old guys have seen multitudes of DIFFERENT technologies used (some now obsolete) therefore, seeing / working outside of the box in all directions.

Station-keeping capabilities??? Anybody worked on Sea owls? Rigworkers? That IDEA has been around yonks! AND it worked. Still used on a few different vehicles and submersibles.

I’m gonna keep this short and let a few of the other older guys dissect this….

Hey, with regards to Rovrats comment of 24/7 monitoring. I worked with a Sup Intd who left a job after a stop card was put in from an office in Aberdeen after watching a live video feed of a P/T doing deck checks on a vessel in Africa without safety glasses on!! Think the Big Bro thing got a bit too much, don’t blame him though, do you??

Definitely agree with that one K. (you’re still not going there, are you???), mind you, the Big Bro’ thing and anal orifice people are good excuses to get the hay out of there – for good!!! Say…. why don’t we have "in-continence" tests / quizzes for the orifice people?? And Hey!!! (why not!!??) let them beam some of their orifice antics back to us!! I’m sure we could do a fine report of the plonkers standing around the water cooler and come back at them with some time management lessons (re: the lack of) – oh… but wait… they don’t have the client in the room breathing down their neck and counting the minutes…. Sorry, what was I thinking – I feel like such a dip now – NOT!!!!