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).
Robots clean rivers and sort waste, monitor ecosystems, and inspect renewable-energy infrastructure. But even the greenest robot has an environmental footprint.
EPFL engineers have designed acoustic cavities that convert sound waves into thrust, propelling small robots and ultralight aerial vehicles without on-board actuators or electronics.