Tag: OpenROV

Small drops make mighty oceans: 10 years as a scientist on Patreon

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Blogging, Conservation, Featured

Ten years ago, freshly married and freshly relocated to Vallejo, California, I found myself in the midst of reinvention. The cycle of post-doctoral fellowships and short-term contracts necessary for an academic career didn’t suit me. I wanted stability and, importantly, I wanted freedom. Crowdfunding was new. Earlier that summer, OpenROV had shook the crowdfunding world … Read More “Small drops make mighty oceans: 10 years as a scientist on Patreon” »

We want to give you an ROV!

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on We want to give you an ROV!
Open Science, Science

If you have access to a small, observation-class remotely operated vehicle to explore the ocean, where would you go? Would you use it to discover something new about marine ecosystems? Would you give students the opportunity to journey beneath the waves and learn about their local waterways? Would you hunt for lost lobster traps, track … Read More “We want to give you an ROV!” »

Emerging technologies for exploration and independent monitoring of seafloor extraction in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Exploration, Science

[The following is a transcript from a talk I gave at the 2019 Minerals, Materials, and Society Symposium at the University of Delaware in August, 2019. It has been lightly edited for clarity.]

Good afternoon and thank you all for coming. I want to change tracks for a bit and scan the horizon to think about what the future of exploration and monitoring in the high seas might look like because ocean and conservation technology is in the midst of an evolutionary shift in who has access to the tools necessary to observe the deep ocean.

This is the Area. Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, International Waters, the High Seas, the Outlaw Ocean. It’s the portion of the ocean that falls outside of national EEZs and is held in trust by the UN under the Convention on the Law of the Sea as the Common Heritage of Humankind. It covers 64% of the ocean and nearly half of the total surface of the Earth. It’s also the region in which most major deep-sea mining ventures intend to operate.

Read More “Emerging technologies for exploration and independent monitoring of seafloor extraction in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” »

Youth v Gov, thinking about oysters, how to talk climate change to radicalized conservatives, delightful dumbo octopuses, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 29, 2018.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

A lava flow detected in the Mariana back-arc that’s evidence for the deepest historic eruption ever detected. Photo: Courtesy Bill Chadwick
A lava flow detected in the Mariana back-arc that’s evidence for the deepest historic eruption ever detected. Photo: Courtesy Bill Chadwick.

Read More “Youth v Gov, thinking about oysters, how to talk climate change to radicalized conservatives, delightful dumbo octopuses, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 29, 2018.” »

I made a ridiculous Glowing Wall Mount for my OpenROV Trident!

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on I made a ridiculous Glowing Wall Mount for my OpenROV Trident!
Open Science

Because OpenROV Trident is a work of art and should be displayed as such when not on deployment. This was my first big design project using the Glowforge and integrating LED strips If you have a Trident, you can download the plans and bill of materials right here: OpenROV Trident Glowing Wall Mount. More importantly, if … Read More “I made a ridiculous Glowing Wall Mount for my OpenROV Trident!” »

I want you to have amazing adventures with underwater robots, protecting the oceans like national parks, songs of a ice and warming, cannibals, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 22, 2018.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k32nNIzWHog

Read More “I want you to have amazing adventures with underwater robots, protecting the oceans like national parks, songs of a ice and warming, cannibals, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 22, 2018.” »

The rise of low-cost ROVs and community submersibles

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Open Science, Science

The following appeared this Monday on the DSM Observer, the only trade journal committed to covering all aspects of the emerging deep-sea mining industry. Though written for the deep-sea mining community, the subject is broadly relevant to a host of ocean industries, so we reprint it below. 

The submarine Noctiluca cruises across the surface. Photo Courtesy Shanee Stopnitzky.
The submarine Noctiluca cruises across the surface. Photo Courtesy Shanee Stopnitzky.

As a community, we discuss mining, management, and monitoring, as well as the regulations that shape them, in terms of governments, major corporations, and research institutions. The deep-sea mining community is small and the complexities of working at abyssal depths engenders collaboration, cooperation, and, in the case of exploitation, compromise. While there are many stakeholders potentially affected by deep-sea mining, only a small proportion of them will ever directly engage with the deep seafloor.

A few extremely wealthy individuals have access to private submersibles and ROVs and have on occasion made them available for research and exploration, but they are the exception. The tools necessary to reach the depths of a hydrothermal vent or polymetallic nodule field are simply too expensive.

That may soon change.

Read More “The rise of low-cost ROVs and community submersibles” »