Page 42: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2013)

Vehicles - Pro leOriginally developed in the mid-1980s by two Canadians, Seamor was intended to become a simple, low-cost, underwater ? ying? video camera system that could be easily deployed from a small boat and enjoyed by those who wanted to enjoy the underwater world with- out getting wet ? a ?Recreational ROV.? Today, more than 30 years later, that market is still in its infancy. The  rst Seamor prototype consisted of two alumi- num tubes strapped to an aluminum frame. One tube housed a color video camera (the size of a chimney brick) and the other an incandescent  oodlight. Each tube was also  tted with a variable speed thruster at the rear (sewing machine motor c/w model airplane propeller). The ROV was surface powered and con- trolled via a 100 ft. ?off-the-shelf? multi-conductor cable and a crude power supply/control system. A small portable TV set completed the system. While the initial version of Seamor provided many hours of enjoyment at a small cost, it soon became evident that being constrained by the depth and scope of the tether cable was an undesirable limitation ? par- ticularly when the wake from a passing BC Ferry was encountered.Several months later a completely redesigned Seamor was produced. This unit incorporated three redesigned thrusters, two horizontal and one vertical, along with a tilting camera/light housing, all mounted on a welded aluminum frame. Initially neutral buoy- ancy was achieved using a ?Grimsby?  oat attached to the tether. The months turned into a couple of years and many improvements to Seamor until, in 1989, Inuktun Ser- vices Ltd. was formed to manufacture the production version of the ROV Seamor for the industrial sector of the ?low-cost? inspection ROV market. The development of ROPI, a ?custom ROV? proj- ect started in 2002, resulted in the introduction of a completely redesigned, more powerful and technically advanced Seamor which became one of Inuktun Ser- vice?s growing modular mobile robotic systems prod- ucts.In 2006 Mr. Robin Li, then an employee at Inuktun with both an MBA and an Engineering degree in his ROV Seamor Evolution of a Brand By Terry Knight Redesigned ROV Seamor circa 1986 Towable Seamor January/February 2013 42 MTRMTR #1 (34-49).indd 42MTR #1 (34-49).indd 422/1/2013 12:22:12 PM2/1/2013 12:22:12 PM