ROBOTS OF THE SEA

摘要

In dark, ice-cold ocean depths under crushing pressures, remotely operated vehicles work around the clock. ROVs can map the sea floor, explore the ocean depths for scientists, and locate shipwrecks for archeologists. They also are extending the reach of the energy industry as it pursues oil into ever-more-difficult environments. According to Chris Nicholson, founder of an ROV firm, Deep Sea Systems International in Falmouth, Mass., "ROVs are electromechanical equivalents of highly skilled human divers. They go where man can't go economically or physically." Still, it takes people to operate these robot workers of the deep.