A recent report by Douglas Westwood revealed that the ROV market has stabilized following a lengthy downturn period and is set to grow over the next five years as operators commence new and previously shelved projects.

The increased activity will present ROV pilots with more variety and complexity in the type of operations they are required to do, and pre-dive analysis of the procedures will be key to ensuring that tasks can be carried out effectively and with the minimum of risk to the vehicle or infrastructure.

While the market recovery will bring increased activity, the emphasis on cost reduction remains, and innovative technologies are being evaluated and introduced to ensure proficiency of personnel and methods.

The success of these new technologies within the ROV sector will be dependent on their ability to provide cost and time savings to contractors by reducing uncertainties associated with pilot skills, infrastructure and equipment design and operational planning.

Simulation training

Forum Subsea Technologies’ VMAX software, a 3-D ROV simulation product, is a well- established example of technology used to effectively remove risk associated with ROV operations. The system is used in many training centers worldwide for training and evaluating ROV pilots.

The software is provided with a variety of generic training scenarios; however, VMAX can also offer bespoke scenarios modeled on particular projects or working practices. For subsea engineering teams, VMAX provides a scenario development tool that allows them to build their own scenarios for verification of design and installation procedures.

Such bespoke scenarios can then be provided to ROV crews to further verify the procedures and familiarize themselves with the operation prior to mobilization.

Forum recently announced a joint agreement with BluHaptics Inc. that enables technologies from both companies to be combined to provide even greater solutions for ROV and subsea engineering applications.

As Forum’s simulator delivers a variety of ROV training scenarios designed to test a pilot’s skills within realistic operational scenarios, many of which require the use of a seven-function manipulator, the user interface for manipulator control is key to providing a realistic user experience.

BluHaptics’ Dex-OS manipulator control system provides an intuitive user interface with the ability to introduce variable levels of automation to make execution of subsea intervention tasks more safe and efficient.

Dex-OS not only provides a cost effective alternative for the control of seven-function manipulators within VMAX simulated operations, it also provides variable levels of automation to offer inspiration for engineering teams seeking to improve operations involving increasingly complex intervention scenarios.

New generation technology

For ROV operators who are interested in implementing BluHaptics Dex-OS technology into their ROV fleet, VMAX and BluHaptics can now provide a simulated environment as platform for demonstration and transition training to ROV pilots without tying up expensive ROV assets. Both systems operate on a laptop, which allows for mobility, convenience and flexibility.