early underwater robotics

related to remote intervention in inhospitable places —'telepresence'

Traditionally, in the realms of both science and engineering, the majority of subsea intervention was performed by divers. Whether the task was the collection of samples or subsea construction, the activities largely mirrored the surface equivalents.

Today, particularly in areas such as marine drilling, there is considerable use of very sophisticated remote control, but this is not robotics, in the sense of the replication of human-like activity. The principal application of robotics in current underwater activity, both engineering and scientific, is the tethered but free-swimming Remotely Operated Vehicle—the ROV.