Swimming
Video Camera Helps BATF Search Underwater Without Divers
New ROV Technology Looks for
Items of Value to Investigation after President Bush's Boat Burned
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 Exton,
PA, March 15, 2001 - VideoRay LLC (Exton, PA) announced that its
VideoRay ROV (remotely operated vehicle) was used as a new tool
for searching an underwater area at the Yacht Harbor Marina in Austin,
Texas, where a fire on December 16, 2000, damaged boats belonging
to President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans.
The search was conducted on Tuesday, February 27, 2001 by the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) Recovery Team to recover
items of possible value to the investigation.
 Sendingthe
VideoRay ROV into the target area eliminated risks to divers, keeping
them from entangling in cables and steel supports and preventing
dive hazards such as hypothermia, drowning, decompression, and accidental
injury.
VideoRay is new technology for underwater searches. An 8-pound,
remotely controlled, video-equipped sub on a 250-foot tether, VideoRay
captures color video of its surroundings and sends video to a monitor
or PC screen on the surface. The VideoRay ROV scoped out the cold,
dark waters of Lake Travis in depths from 60 to 70 feet. In just
five minutes from launch of the VideoRay into the water, the ROV
located the first items of possible value to the investigation.
VideoRay's manipulator arm helped retrieve items without the use
of divers. In fact, divers were prepared but did not have to go
into the water during the daylong search. The VideoRay searched
areas where divers would have likely stirred up the bottom.
 "Divers
may have never found the items we located with VideoRay," says
Steve Van Meter, a Hazardous Duty Robotics Specialist from NASA/Kennedy
Space Center. Bob Christ from VideoRay worked with Van Meter and
the ATF Houston Field Division in the search. Van Meter uses a VideoRay
at NASA/Kennedy Space Center to inspect tanks, culverts, and hazardous
submerged areas.
The area searched by VideoRay was under the waterway in front
of a slip where President Bush's boat was docked. A scanning sonar
was used to pinpoint submerged objects, which were displayed on
the screen of a laptop PC for ATF agents to see.
For Comments, contact:
Steve Van Meter, Hazardous Duty Robotics Specialist, NASA/Kennedy
Space Center, FL; PH: 321-867-7287, email: steven.vanmeter-1@ksc.nasa.gov
Bob Christ, Vice President, VideoRay LLC
400 Eagleview Boulevard
Exton, PA 19341 USA
Telephone +1 610 458 3000
Fax +1 610 458 3010; e-mail: bob.christ@videoray.com;
www.videoray.com
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