To describe Saipem’s in-development Hydrone technology, Paolo Bonel starts with a declaration meant to clear up any misconceptions.“This is not an AUV,” says Bonel, manager of remote
Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem is developing a hybrid remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for subsea operations and maintenance that carries more of its intelligence onboard. The ROV will be able to operate autonomously in the deep ocean without any human intervention. Three version of the ROV are planned: the Hydrone-S for survey work, a resident model, Hydrone-R, and Hydrone-W, which is more of a standard ROV.