After a brief holiday hiatus, we are back! Though we have been quiet on social media outlets, we have been hard at work. Quantitative testing of ROV attributes has begun, and the OpenROVs have undergone some changes. There has been a complete redesign of the OpenROV platform which will allow the ROV to safely navigate the rough waters in the rocky intertidal zones.
Immediately following the new year, team members Blake and Chris headed to Santa Rosa Island for a week long expedition. Our wonderful partners, the National Park Service, kindly transported our team to the Channel Islands aboard their boat, Ocean Ranger. The team will be deploying our OpenROV #2 (SCOOP) and studying the fish populations and evaluating the Carrington Point Marine Protected Area (MPA), to assess for the efficacy of the MPA. Next week team members Jay and Paul will be joining them on Santa Rosa Island to deploy OpenROV #1 (Bucket) on subtidal and intertidal research.
