European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Alvin being launched in the sea of Cartel. Its Mission on this i the Alvin returns to its Mother ship. Diver assist the Pilot. New York time Polo Sar submarine sonar system is released by the French ship in \ new focus on a quiet Branch of s by Daniel q. Haney associated press swimming where no human can  new generation of nimble mechanical divots is mapping Oconn canyons Hunting strange life Lorrens. Poking through nuclear Power Plant tunnels and measuring the Fust on deep sea Oil Tigs. This summer two dramatic eats showed off their versatility and prowess. One designed to fix underwater Telephone cables retrieved the flight recorders from the crashed air India jumbo Jet 6.700 feet beneath the Atlantic. Another that will Chart the Ocean floor snapped the first pictures of the titanic 13.000 feel Down. These and an assortment of other remotely controlled submersible vehicles Are eyes and hands in Waters far below the reach of mortal divers. Their exploits have brought unaccustomed attention to a quiet Branch of science that is vastly expanding humans ability to explore and work in the oceans that cover 70 percent of planet. One of the major spi Nolls of the discovery of the titanic is to bring the Public which is the Basic funder of oceanography a return on their Small  said Willian Marquet of the Woods Hole oceanographic institution. There s a wonderful world out there that has t been discovered yet. And we re developing the tools for scientific  Marquet is senior Engineer at the institution s deep submergence Laboratory that designed Argo the submersible thai spotted the titanic. Craft such As Argo Are towed behind research ships something like lures trolled after fishing boats. And they scan and measure the sen floor beneath them. More common Are robot subs that have mechanical arms and propulsion systems they re dangled into the wafer on fathers. Engineer Are dreaming of even More talented divers even ones that can think Lor themselves. At the University of new Hampshire. Richard Blidberg is working on one called eave. Like most submersibles. Eave s name is an acronym. It stands for experimental autonomous vehicle Enve s computer brain is gradually being endowed with artificial intelligence. We want to make it Able to think Able to Cope with unpredictable things it sees in the  said Blidberg. And we want to make it smart enough to stay reliable enough to go Oft and do rather complicated missions " so tar. Eave has been taught to follow a pipeline pick its Way through an underwater Structure and do a simple cleaning chore. Such submersibles would carry their own electrical Power so they won t be hooked to the surface with cables. Tethers Are a major drawback since they limit mobility and can become tangled. Smart untethered submersibles could conduct searches roam beneath the Arctic ice of tend underwater waste disposal Yards. Some of the first submersibles were developed three decades ago so the Navy could fetch torpedoes from Ocean test ranges. They grew into workaday tools for Industry in the 1970s. As fuel prices Rose Oil companies drilled in deeper Waters. Human divers had to inspect the offshore platforms and help with installations. The remotely operated vehicle technology was Page 14 the stars and stripes available at the Lime so it began to be accepted to d use the vehicles As observation tools to go Down look around and act As a diver s buddy said Robert i Wernli an Engineer with the naval Ocean systems i Center in san Diego. Til the More the vehicles were used the More they j were accepted and the More they were allowed to  he said. Now they Are an integral part of offshore Oil Field  the Oil Industry now uses almost 400 of them he said. Typically an operator called a Pilot sits in front of a control panel on the Oil platform. The vehicle s sonar locates its target and cameras Send to pictures Back to the surface As the sub Maneu vers in m for close up work. K Hydraulic thrusters scoot the vehicle about and three or Lour mechanical arms and tools let them Cut cables make repairs Monitor corrosion and do other routine jobs. They Are not necessarily replacing the diver but they certainly support him in Many ways and remove him irom Many dangerous operations said Wernli. Cheaper shallow water versions Are being used by police departments to Hunt for bodies and by utilities to maintain dams and inspect Power Plant pipes. Some submersibles carry people. Perhaps the Best known of these is Woods Hole s Alvin a tadpole shaped Craft that can carry three people Down 13,120 feet. Alvin has made More than 1,500 dives and often if works with Remote controlled subs. Fot instance in 1977, a camera toting Craft named Angus discovered hot Springs on the Pacific floor. Alvin went Down Lor a closer look unmanned but armed with cameras and found tube Worms giant saturday