ROV KIEL 6000 has been designed for scientific purposes with an operational depth rating of 6000 m and is remotely operated by means of a deep-sea glass fibre cable.
The ROV is an electrically powered work class vehicle manufactured by Schilling Robotics, Davis, California. With a depth rating of 6000 m, KIEL 6000 is capable of reaching more than 90% of the seafloor. The ROV can be operated from ships of opportunity which fulfil certain requirements like dynamic positioning (DP), sufficient deck space and stability, power supply as well as crane/winch capacities.
The ROV is used in a ‘live-boating-mode’, i.e. the vehicle is directly linked to the ship via the deep-sea cable.
The work class and intervention ROV KIEL 6000 has the following capabilities:
- intervention and sampling using manipulators with 5 and 7 functions, respectively
- station-keep and autopilot modes in the range of decimetres while countervailing currents of up to 2 knots
- observation and documentation by various digital video and still cameras on pan and tilt units
- real time data transfer within the gigabit range vie a digital telemetry (DTSTM)
- possibility of integrating additional scientific sensors and tools by means of 4 nodes with 16 ports each
- a toolskid with up to 100 kg payload allowing for different scientific sampling tools and collecting boxes to be integrated
ROV KIEL 6000 is used within multidisciplinary scientific projects and for the installation and maintainance of ocean observatories.
Procurement of the ROV system has been realised by the Schleswig-Holstein Fund.
Information about the use of GEOMAR underwater vehicles & research equipment
