Serpent
Listening to: Otago
vs. The Lions
I have just been watching Earth
Report on BBC World. The topic of the show was the Scientific and Environmental
ROV Partnership using Existing Industrial Technology or SERPENT (yeah…
go figure). The basic approach is that biologists use Oil company ROVs to
survey around oil rigs.
Because oil rigs are surrounded by exclusion zones that prevent fishing vessels from
operating they are incredibly rich in marine life. The operational depths of the oil
rigs also provide regular access to areas of the ocean that haven’t been surveyed
first hand by scientists. The ROVs provide the scientists with a direct and very capable
observation platform.
This approach of viewing the habitat using a remote vehicle struck me (and I’ll admit
it had all the impact of a wet bus ticket because it’s pretty obvious) as being a
great educational environment. It’s no great leap to imagine kids exploring synthetic
environments with software ROVs and experiencing the wonders of the deeps. They might
even explore environments that are based on surveys taken around real oil rigs using
software ROVs.
It seems to me, given the desire for corporate responsibility projects, that you might
even be able to convince the oil companies to foot part of the development bill.
It would be another great next generation console app.
