Ulithi ROV Project
In October of 2012, Steve Moore and undergraduates Josh Ambrose and James McClure from Cal SUMB’s Ecosystem Electronics lab were invited to join One People One Reef. Their unique contribution to this collaborative effort was to develop an ROV that could extend the accessible depth range beyond where the scientists had previously been able to collect data.
Over the next several months, Josh, James, and Steve, worked in the CSUMB Ecosystem Electronics lab at a feverish pace to develop a workable prototype of an ROV capable of being transported by air to Ulithi and, once there, diving to a depth of 150 meters to record high-defintion videos of that previously unseen deep-reef world.
James and Josh work on the design of the camera pressure housings.
Josh desigs a circuit board that will become the “brains” of the Ulithi ROV.
Wires enter the pressure housing through a custom-machined end-cap made by James.
James, Steve, and Josh struggle to finish sealing the wire holes before the black, messy, potting compound hardens. (Photo by Lauren Boye).
In late June of 2013, all their hard work payed off: Josh, James, and Steve flew to Ulithi with their “Ulithi ROV.” They arrived on the Ulithi island of Falalop on 1 July 2013, where they spent 12 days meeting the local community and their fellow scientists, visiting a few of the other islands around the atoll, scrambling to finish some not-quite-finished parts of the Ulithi ROV, and finally doing a few dives with it to begin the work of understanding Ulithi’s deep reefs and their connection to Ulithi’s fish populations.
The Ulithi ROV system
Over the next few weeks we will be posting the record of their journey.
