This is the second in a series of reports on exhibitors that have continued over the years to participate in and support the OCEANS conferences.
     When I chaired the first Remotely Operated Vehicle conference (ROV ’83), small observation class ROVs were just beginning to appear on the market. Although touted to provide support to divers offshore, they were not readily accepted; in fact, many divers thought they were a threat to their livelihood. And they were essentially right. Today, many tasks formerly performed by divers are routinely completed by small, portable ROVs, and in many cases they are welcomed as the operator, often a former diver, is now topside controlling the robot that is often working in a hazardous or toxic environment. And at least one of those former divers, one who had a vision of the future, exploited this emerging robotic technology to create more than one successful company.
     Don Rodocker is President and co-founder of SeaBotix along with his son, Jesse. Both of them can often be found manning the SeaBotix booth at the OCEANS conferences. Don has participated in nearly every aspect of underwater intervention over the past 30 years. During his ten years in the United States Navy, he established the first saturation diver training program, participated in the world record setting 1,010 foot open saturation dive, worked on the SeaLab program, developed the dive system used to recover 5 tons of gold bullion from the HMS Edinburgh, and has equipment fielded to support the hunt for Amelia Earhart. He also founded a series of companies, specializing from saturation diving systems to ROVs, including the development of Hydrovision’s Hyball ROV. His focus is now expanding the capability and range of his present company’s leading product—the Little Benthic Vehicle (LBV).
     Don indicated that he was toying with the development of an inexpensive observation class ROV, but the timing wasn’t right. In 2000 his son, Jesse, said “The market was ready” for the vehicle and the LBV was born. When I first visited their facility, supported through a government Technology Incubator program, they were hidden deep within the bowels of the San Diego City College. Busting at the seams with only 7,000 sq.ft. of space, they took advantage of the commercial renovation of San Diego’s Naval Training Center, now called Liberty Station. Their new 17,000 sq.ft. site is a much better fit when considering the rapid growth of their LBV and related products.
     Their new location combines all aspects of SeaBotix’s product development—from corporate offices to the engineering area and from vehicle assembly to the nearby dock that allows in-water training using the equipment. Onsite classroom training is also available to ensure those who purchase or use SeaBotix products understand all aspects of maintenance and operation.

     “With our classroom and dockside facilities,” Don said, “we’re providing both in-house and in-the-field training about 50 weeks of the year. We highly encourage training and spares for our equipment. Today’s consumer mentality is to buy something off-the-shelf and just go and operate it. Our products are highly complex systems that work in one of the world’s most hostile environments. By going through our training program, our customers are not intimated by the technology. They’ll open it up to replace a light, or whatever is necessary, and seldom have to come back for our assistance.”
     “I know you’re at most OCEANS conferences. How have they benefited SeaBotix?” I asked.
     “We’ve exhibited at all the North American conferences and also in Japan and Australia,” Don said. “We usually walk out with a few commitments or sales. It’s a lot better than a full page ad in a magazine. Face-to-face contact is what we like; we get immediate feedback from our customers. And as the conference moves around, we visit different areas and are exposed to new customers and markets.”
     “How about the non-North American venues? I see that your website indicates 22 distributors around the world.”
     “We have an excellent international network. And with distributors in both Australia and Japan, we took advantage of the OCEANS conferences there. This was especially true in the Japan market, which generally has a longer gestation period. That market has ramped up and is now doing very well.”
     “You’ve got everything from bottom crawlers, hull crawlers and a range of LBV’s with different depth ranges and capabilities. What’s on the horizon?”
     “Well, we have our new rescue vehicle, the SARbot, which will help with search and rescue of humans in the water without putting other people in danger. We just finished developing it with leading UK fire and rescue teams. We’re also beginning the maiden run of our vLBV (vectored LBV), which is a mini-work class ROV. We’ve developed a small, advanced electronics bottle for the vLBV that will allow us to scale the vehicle up to support any size mini-work class vehicle. And we’re also advancing our line of mini-manipulators.”
     SeaBotix has an array of products that ranges from aquaculture to the nuclear industry to all aspects of underwater intervention. So, if you’re after an LBV to retrieve a lost martini glass from your yacht, go after a sunken treasure, or guide you as you fly your manned submersible through the depths, you may want to take a look at SeaBotix. Visit them at the next OCEANS conference, check out their website at www.SeaBotix.com or stop by their facility at 2877 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92106 USA.