Douglas-Westwood, an energy research group, says (in their $5,000 World ROV Operations Market Forecast 2013-2017 report), that ROV operations expenditures will grow 80% over the next 5 years.
75% of the ROV vehicles are used as work-class vehicles; the remainder are for inspection.
The combined purchase and operations expenditures over those years will be $9.7 billion.
Insight into those numbers provided by Unmanned Vehicle Systems Consulting said that global ROV sales in 2010 were $850 million of which 50% were for energy use; 25% for defense and security and 25% for scientific research.
Further, roughly 20% of the vehicles were autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); the rest were ROVs (remotely operated vehicles).
EPFL scientists have integrated discarded crustacean shells into robotic devices, leveraging the strength and flexibility of natural materials for robotic applications.
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Stefano Mintchev from ETH Zürich about robots to explore and monitor the natural environment.
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Oluwami Dosunmu-Ogunbi from Ohio Northern University about bipedal robots that can walk and even climb stairs.