Application and prospect of deep-sea ARV in mineral resource investigation

Deep-sea autonomous/remote-operated underwater vehicle (ARV) as an emerging hybrid underwater device, it combines the advantages of the flexibility of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and the human-computer interaction of remotely operated vehicle (ROV), promoting a new model of hybrid autonomous and remote-controlled operations. The deep-sea ARV can be switched to AUV autonomous navigation mode to independently collect data of near-seabed topography, geological structure, and environmental parameters of the surrounding area. It can also be switched to ROV mode for local observation and sampling, depending on the target area of interest, showing future development direction of third-generation deep-sea underwater vehicles with complex mission execution capabilities. The development status of hybrid deep-sea ARV at home and abroad is reviewed. Aiming at deep-sea mineral resources investigation in China, the research and development of the 6 000-m Wenhai 1 ARV system is introduced, along with its key technology and technical challenges, and its main application cases and achievements. At last, some ideas and suggestions on future application scenarios, functional integration, and development directions for deep-sea ARV are presented.