India’s First Underwater Robotic Drone Unveiled: 8 Interesting Facts to Know!

EyeROV technologies, a Kochi-based company, based has introduced India’s first underwater robotic drone, the EyeROV TUNA, which is a smart micro-ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle).

Developed by Johns T Mathai and Kannappa Palaniappan P, who are the founders of EyeROV, the drone can send real-time video of ships and other underwater structures and help to ease the manual labour of underwater inspections as well as submarine research.

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Here are eight facts you should know about this aqua wonder.

1. Weighing less than 10 kgs, the EyeROV has been designed to perform visual surveys of submarine environments and structures in a depth of up to 100 metres in “harsh and mission-critical underwater environment.”

2. The micro-ROV can be controlled with remote hardware such as laptops or joysticks.

3. A camera attached to the drone will be able to take HD video images underwater and send them in real time to its operators. With remote accessibility and HD video imagery, the underwater robotic drone throws open a wide range of operations in rescue, defence and research.

4. The company, EyeROV, has advisors who used to work for the DRDO, the Indian Navy and the marine industry. Johns T Mathai is an IIT-Delhi alumnus and has previously worked for Samsung R&D and Grey Orange Robotics previously, while Kannappa Palaniappan P is an IIT-Madras alumnus has previously worked for Saint Gobain and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

5. With a 2-knot cruise speed, 6000 lumens LED lights and a 3+ hour operation time, the TUNA is a promising equipment for defence, research and development activities.

6. The underwater robotic drone could be a replacement for the current method of manual inspection by divers that is both costly and quite risky. “Our vision is to disrupt the underwater critical infrastructure inspections industry,” Mathai told Business Standard.

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7. Confirming the availability of the drone in markets, Rohit Surendran, the chief marketing manager at EyeROV told the New Indian Express, “The EyeROV TUNA is the product available in the market from the company. EyeROV TUNA is a highly versatile and modular ROV with an array of sensors and attachments possible.”

8. The Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) made the first order of the product on 14 September 2018. NPOL is a laboratory of the DRDO.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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