LanderPick, a remote operated trawled vehicle to cost-effectively deploy and recover lightweight oceanographic landers

Abstract

LanderPick project consists of the design of a cost-efective system for deploying and picking-up lightweight oceanographic landers, not provided with recovery elements, but having a structure that facilitates their hitching (a capture mesh). The LanderPick vehicle prototype is a Remote Operated Trawled Vehicle (ROTV) specifcally designed to operate a mechanical release that allows the placement at the sea bottom of landers carried as a payload, as well as their recovery by means of a triple hook. The vehicle mostly depends on the ship positioning system but has small propellers to aid in the fnal precision approach manoeuvres. First sea trials of the system in April 2021 are described.