Right from the early 1950s, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have been used for a variety of science, military, and salvage missions. These missions include photographing deep-sea animals, recovering torpedoes from the ocean floor, servicing underwater oil & gas structures, and locating historic ship-wrecks.
The need for a smaller version of the ROV arose due to the need for increased portability, the necessity to penetrate harder to reach areas and to possess more versatility.
The answer to these problems came in the form of the Mini Rover ROV, the world’s first small, low cost remotely operated underwater vehicle. It was designed and built by Chris Nicholson of Deep Sea Systems International, Inc. in 1983.