Small remotely-manned vehicles

Small, remotely-manned tethered vehicles have been developed for undersea inspection, surveillance, implantment, and recovery. For many applications such vehicles offer several advantages over diver systems or general purpose submersibles. Some of these are: safety, unlimited endurance, low initial and operating cost, portability, ease of operation and availability of information to control personnel. Some features of the vehicle "Snoopy" are closed circuit television, automatic depth control utilizing a variable buoyancy chamber, proportional joystick thruster control, a variable torque grabber, and a compass. "SCAT," a somewhat larger vehicle with greater work capability employs a head-following stereoscopic television and sonar system, automatic depth or altitude control, proportional joystick thruster control, and a two function grabber. A version of Snoopy which is being designed and constructed for deeper operation incorporates a streamlined fiberglass hull and utilizes a single coaxial cable for power and data transmission.