Deep Sea Exploration: The Innerspace 6000 OEV

The Innerspace 6000 OEV Deep Sea Vehicle

The principal deep sea vehicle platform for the Innerspace Initiative will be a specially designed 6,000-meter deep-sea ROV named the Innerspace 6000 OEV (Ocean Exploration Vehicle) (Figure 1) to be adapted and operated by Global Oceans for Innerspace as a modular “system of systems”, hosting multiple inter-changeable instruments and tools from an extensible robotic Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), auxiliary to the standard manipulators.

The OEV will operate a traditional suite of ROV science tools, and an evolving array of coupled micro/nano imaging systems, micro-spatial environmental sensors, and precision biosampling tools deployed from the IDA, a concept inspired by the instrument arm of NASA’s Curiosity Rover.

NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover – A Design Analogue for Deep Sea Exploration

The Innerspace team has drawn inspiration from the Mars Curiosity Rover as a design analogue for a robotic deep-sea vehicle capable of operating under remote, extreme ocean depths and harsh conditions. Mars Curiosity serves as a model for developing a new in situ deep-sea science laboratory for ocean exploration, providing a reference for design and operational protocols for deploying coupled instruments in similarly challenging environments on Earth.

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover, named Mars Curiosity (Figures 2 - 4), carried the most advanced robotic manipulator ever landed on the surface of a planetary body (1). The rover’s instrument arm hosts an integrated suite of multi-functional tools to sample, process, and deliver materials to on-board instruments for in situ analysis. 

Curiosity’s robotic arm also hosts the most advanced tool suite ever flown on a manipulator (2). It includes a stabilized primary sample acquisition device, sample processing and delivery mechanism, an X-ray spectrometer to determine sample composition, and a microscopic imaging system. 

The OEV Robotic Instrument Arm

The Innerspace team, in collaboration with TechnipFMC/Schilling Robotics, designed a robotic instrument arm platform, modeled after the arm on the Curiosity rover, to be integrated with the Innerspace 6000 OEV. The OEV is a re-designed version of Global Oceans’ 6,000-meter hydraulic ROV acquired from Oceaneering International. Oceaneering will handle principle re-engineering and manufacturing of the new OEV, and TechnipFMC/Schilling Robotics will manufacture the OEV’s robotic arm.

Kinematic, structural, and power requirements analyses have been completed for the OEV arm design, and initial calculations for speed and acceleration for arm operation have been conducted. Eighty percent of manufactured components for the arm will be from field-proven systems and parts for servicing reliability and operational familiarity in the field.

The instrument arm is designed for a payload of 100 lbs (in air) and a 7-8 foot reach extending from the vehicle. The arm will supply multiple power, communication, and video channels for modular lights, cameras, and suites of scientific instruments mounted at the end of the arm. Several approaches for stabilizing both the vehicle and the instrument arm relative to the operating terrain and target sites under multiple scenarios are in development.

Instrument Modularity Enables Multi-User Platforms

A key design feature of the arm will be a suite of standard interface options for power supply, communications, and mechanical connections, to interchangeably connect and link instruments at the end of the arm platform. Pre-defined specifications for platform integration on a modular “plug and play” basis for instruments developed by scientists and collaborators around the world will enable the OEV and other future Innerspace vehicles to function as multi-user, multi-instrument platforms (Figure 5).

Guest instruments planned for deployment on the OEV will go through required testing for pressure integrity, vehicle connectivity, system power, and operational functionality under simulated field conditions in advance of each project cruise.

Traditional Complement of ROV Science Tools

In addition to the OEV instrument arm, the new vehicle will carry a full complement of modular, interchangeable science tools accessible with the OEV’s manipulators. Manipulator claw options will be available (parallel and opposed fingers, intermeshing, grabber claw, and cage claw) as well as sampling gear including variable-power ultra-low-suction samplers, scoops, sediment push cores, sample traps, Niskin bottles, and other systems.

Sample storage systems will include bio boxes with hydraulic lids, D-Samplers, carousel jars for suctioned samples, and ROV racks and baskets. OEV operators will be able to stow the robotic instrument arm at depth or detach the arm topside for deployments requiring conventional ROV sampling and imaging applications.

1. Baumgartner, Eric T., et al. "Mobile manipulation for the Mars exploration rover-a dexterous and robust instrument positioning system." IEEE robotics & automation magazine13.2 (2006): 27-36.

2. National Research Council, et al. Vision and voyages for planetary science in the decade 2013-2022. National Academies Press, 2012.