IFM-GEOMAR Order for Remotely Operated Vehicle

In 2007, the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany will receive the world's most advanced remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system for marine research. The ROV system, built by Schilling Robotics, costs EUR 4.7 million (approximately 6m US$). Professor Peter Herzig (director of IFM-GEOMAR) and Norman Robertson (Schilling Robotics� representative) signed the contract on 12 July 2006. The ROV system offers commercial opportunities beyond investigation of environmental and climate change. Professor Peter Herzig stated that the electric ROV system can be used in water up to 6,000 meters deep, allowing the vehicle to reach 90% of the ocean floor. The unmanned deep-sea robot, named Kiel 6000, will be equipped with two electro-hydraulic manipulators with advanced cameras and floodlights, as well as state-of-the-art navigation technology. The ROV system, which can be used in coastal areas as well as in the deep sea, will be equipped with a 6,500-meter fiber optic cable on a separate winch system. The first deep-sea tests of Kiel 6000 will take place in summer 2007 in the Pacific, aboard the research vessel Sonne.