March Sea Trial of Boxfish ROVs

, 24 Mar 2022

Earlier this month, members of the Boxfish team had a very productive day conducting sea trials in the Poor Knights Islands. The marine reserve in Northland, New Zealand, is one of the world’s top dive locations and a great spot to test our ROVs and accessories!

The underwater environment of the Poor Knights provides an incredible variety of marine life and habitats, including caves, arches and tunnels. So, it’s the perfect location to showcase our vehicles’ manoeuvrability, sturdiness, and superior underwater vision technology. And a great spot to capture stunning ROV footage for our professional underwater cinematography drone, the Boxfish Luna.

We can test new ROV features and refinements by carrying out sea trials for our remotely operated vehicles. It enables end-to-end testing of the modified ROV system under real-world conditions. We brought a Boxfish ROV and Boxfish Luna on trip.

Testing ROV Accessory – Multibeam Sonar

At the second of two ROV dive locations, the Crystal Cave, the team also put the Blueprint Subsea Oculus Sonar to the test. The Blueprint M750D is a general-purpose multibeam imaging sonar perfect for low visibility navigation, situational awareness, and inspection tasks. The compact sonar is connected to the ROV and positioned on top of the vehicle. Users can view imaging data on a PC connected to the ROV control station. In this trial, Mechatronics R&D Engineer Douglas Grant successfully used imaging sonar to navigate obstructions in the confined underwater cave. 

Multi-beam sonar at the Crystal Cave entrance.

My highlight on this trip was the chance to pilot the ROV in the sea environment, rather than the pool during training. Participating in ROV sea trials is extremely useful and helps refine product documentation and instruction material”.

Amanda Nicholas, Technical Writer, Boxfish Research

Thanks to Dive Tutakaka for skippering another great trip to the Poor Knights!

We’ll soon be showcasing some footage of the Boxfish ROVs in action and stunning underwater video captured on the Boxfish Luna cinematography ROV. Keep an eye on our YouTube channel and social media platforms.

1. Members of the Boxfish team ready to trial a Boxfish ROV and Boxfish Luna in the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve. 2. A new cinematography ROV, the Boxfish Luna, waiting for its sea trial. 3. A new Boxfish ROV equipped with a Blueprint Subsea Oculus Sonar on the Poor Knights Sea Trial. 4. The Boxfish ROV control console and sonar display during navigation of the Crystal Cave.