The main factors that influence underwater robots in general are maintenance management for:
- Corrosion: Low-corrosion materials and sacrificial anodes are used and replaced as needed.
- Biofouling: The ongoing maintenance will include a maintenance schedule for clearing acoustic and optical surfaces to prevent biofouling build-up.
- Moving component wear and tear: The primary cost factor for maintenance is rebuilding components due to wear and tear or in the event of failure, and we’ve incorporated it into the economic model. (Learn more about analysis in this blog post.)
- Electronics failure: In the event of a complete loss of power or control, the robot will always remain positively buoyant and float to the surface.
Since we are operating a large fleet of underwater robots, we can collect performance and required maintenance data on a statistically significant scale and employ maintenance insights based on this information.
See also this blog post: Prioritizing Reliability: Reducing the Mean Time Between Failures.
