#Remotely Operated Vehicles

[localbizchronicles]

USVs vs. ROVs vs. UAVs: Understanding the Differences and Applications

As technological advancements continue to transform research and industry, understanding the unique roles of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) becomes increasingly important. Each of these platforms serves specialised functions across diverse environments—sea, underwater, and air.

USVs operate on the water’s surface, providing real-time data for oceanographic research, maritime surveillance, and environmental monitoring. These vessels are ideal for long-duration missions and can be equipped with various sensors. In contrast, ROVs are deployed underwater to explore deep-sea environments. They are vital in marine biology, offshore infrastructure inspection, and underwater archaeology. UAVs, commonly known as drones, offer a bird’s-eye view and are widely used for land surveying, agriculture, disaster management, and aerial photography.

Also Read: The Evolving Significance of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) in Defense

While each system has its own strengths, they can be integrated for comprehensive data collection. For instance, combining UAVs and USVs enhances coastal mapping accuracy, while ROVs add value to underwater studies. Learn more about how ROVs help scientists study underwater caverns and sinkholes.When it comes to marine exploration and ocean surface monitoring, choose innovation you can trust from the best Unmanned Surface Vehicle manufacturer in San Jose, California.

[ericartem]

Unearthing Riches

Unearthing Riches #artem #auctionsales #BlackHillsInstitute #fossildiscovery #historicalartifacts #legalbattles

Content 18+ In the summer of 1990, a crew from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research set out to find fossils in a South Dakota ranch. After months of digging, they’d uncovered some interesting finds, but the summer was winding down, and the crew prepared to head home. Then, as if by fate, a flat tire changed everything. One member, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson, decided to stay back…

[the-demon-cyborg]

This diagram is amazingly accurate, from what I've read

My source

I feel like they should just print this out and hand it to any reporter dumb enough to ask about recovering bodies

[ghibrilhamzian]

R&D and sales of underwater robots and peripheral products

CHARPIE Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of robust underwater ROVs, high-definition imaging systems, cutting-edge sonar equipment, heavy-duty cable reels, and versatile accessories. Engineered for underwater inspection, emergency response, and environmental monitoring, our solutions deliver consistent performance under the toughest conditions. Trusted by professionals across multiple sectors, Charpie provides the tools you need to get the job done efficiently and reliably. Explore our full product line and place your order on our website today. Address: 3rd Floor, No. 200 Zhangheng Road, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Email: sales@charpie.cn

[webcateyes]

The construction of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Alvin was considered from around 1960, and it was launched in 1964. In 1968, it sank when its suspension rope broke and it was on the ocean floor for about half a year, but it was recovered and restored. It was subsequently improved during an overhaul, and in an overhaul from 1985 to 1986, Alvin's propellers were replaced with small, highly efficient multiple screw units, evolving into the shape shown in the image. At the same time, it was given the ability to link with Jason Junior. Jason Junior accompanied Alvin from the Titanic survey in 1986 until 1991. It was eventually lost when it sank along with a barge during a ferry trip.

[johnalveschaf]

In the summer of 1990, a crew from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research set out to find fossils in a South Dakota ranch. After months of digging, they’d uncovered some interesting finds, but the summer was winding down, and the crew prepared to head home. Then, as if by fate

Then, as if by fate...

[researchrealmblog]

Remote Operated Vehicles Market Trends: What to Expect in the Coming Years

Market Overview

In 2024, the size of the global remote-operated vehicles industry will be approximately USD 1,623.6 million, and it is projected to attain USD 3,155.0 million by the end of the decade, growing at a CAGR of 11.7% during the projection period. This can be credited to the surge in offshore oil and gas exploration & production, particularly in deep waters, throughout the globe.

Contemporary ROVs are equipped with 4K HD video and graphic recording and are capable of closed-circuit television broadcasting through optical fibers on display devices floated above water surfaces. This enables them to relay live footage of their conduits to the control room that could be on a submersible, a vessel, or an above-land structure. It is capable of manually executing a few operations involving mostly automated interaction with the wellhead or blowout.

In a bid to increase supply and meet the growing global energy demand, there has been a colossal expansion of offshore oil and gas operations. This is pressing the O&G industry to improve its operating technologies in search and develop hydrocarbon resources in deeper parts of the sea. For example, the operation of oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico involves the blowout preventer situated 7,000– 10,000 feet deep below the sea bed and the snout at 5,000–6,000 feet above the seafloor. In these great depths, it is useful to get its assistance in carrying out other complex physical operations using ROV technology.

Key Insights

In 2024, the class 1 observation is the largest category, holding a 45% share, utilized for inspection, mild interventional tasks, and work class interventions, operating up to 1,000 m depth.

Class 3: work class is the fastest-growing category with a CAGR of 12.0% (2024–2030), performing complex physical tasks and subsea interventions in ultra-deep-water drilling.

Deep (up to 1,000 m) is the largest depth category, holding a 50% share in 2024, used in aquaculture, military, oil and gas, and underwater discovery.

Ultra-deep (up to 4,000 m) is the fastest-growing depth category with a CAGR of 12.2% (2024–2030), driven by deep-sea drilling projects.

The tophat category dominates the market with a 70% share in 2024, used for smaller ROVs without payload capacity.

The cage category is the fastest-growing deployment method with a CAGR of 12.1% (2024–2030), providing mechanical protection for ROVs in harsh environments.

MSROV (91 to 907 kg) is the largest and fastest-growing weight category, holding a 12.5% share in 2024 and growing at a CAGR of 11.9% (2024–2030), valued for versatility across industries.

The oil and gas category holds the largest share (40%) in 2024 and is the fastest-growing with a CAGR of 12.3% (2024–2030), due to increased deep-sea exploration and production.

North America holds the largest regional market share (50%) in 2024, driven by early technology adoption, the U.S. Navy's extensive ROV use, and deep-sea explo0ration trends.

Europe is the second-largest regional market, with increased oil and gas E&P activity in the North Sea, where ROVs are used for critical operations in ultra-deepwater.

Source: P&S Intelligence

[mbari-blog]

Quality time with a squid mum 🦑

For decades, marine biologists assumed that all squids laid their eggs in clusters on the seafloor, where the eggs developed and hatched without any help from their parents. However, MBARI scientists discovered that some female deep-sea squid, like this Gonatus onyx, brood their eggs by carrying them between their arms until the young hatch and swim away. ⁠ ⁠ Gonatus females will have approximately 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in a sheath between their arms for as long as nine months. During this time, they are unable to feed and must rely on stored fats from previous meals. This observation of the first known parental care behavior by squid was also an important discovery made possible by the use of MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles.

[life-on-our-planet]

This is the first confirmed live observation of the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, at depth in its natural habitat. Pilots filmed the young cephalopod at about 600m near the South Sandwich Islands as the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s remotely operated vehicle SuBastian descended through the water column on a dive aiming to discover new marine species, in partnership with Ocean Census during the #SouthSandwichIslands expedition. ©Schmidt Ocean Institute

[digimarketresearch]

Remotely Operated Vehicle Market Size, Share, Trends, Global Demand, Growth and Opportunity Analysis

"Global Remotely Operated Vehicle Market report focuses on several essential parameters related to the market that includes but are not limited to a competitive landscape, brief segmentation and industrial infrastructure. The document also explains key elements such as revenue, business distribution, market share, shipment, gross profit, and more. All these elements help the readers to understand more information about industry competitors. Being the most suitable example of the above attributes, the world class Remotely Operated Vehicle report has been prepared by keeping in mind every market related aspect.

The market data pulled out in Remotely Operated Vehicle market report has been analysed to the market potential for each region considering macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply. The report examines various parameters impacting on Remotely Operated Vehicle industry like market dynamics, economic and non-economic aspects, investment opportunities, product offerings, key financial information, recent developments, and strategies. The competitive landscape section of the report highlights a clear insight about the market share analysis of major industry players. Keyword market research report brings into focus the key market dynamics of the sector.

Access Full 350 Pages PDF Report @

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the remotely operated vehicle market was valued at USD 2.86 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach the value of USD 6.60 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 11.01% during the forecast period. In addition to the market insights such as market value, growth rate, market segments, geographical coverage, market players, and market scenario the market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, import/export analysis, pricing analysis, production consumption analysis, and pestle analysis.

Remotely Operated Vehicle Key Benefits over Global Competitors:

The report provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Remotely Operated Vehicle Market trends, forecasts, and market size to determine new opportunities.

Porter’s Five Forces analysis highlights the potency of buyers and suppliers to enable stakeholders to make strategic business decisions and determine the level of competition in the industry.

Top impacting factors & major investment pockets are highlighted in the research.

The major countries in each region are analyzed and their revenue contribution is mentioned.

The market player positioning segment provides an understanding of the current position of the market players active in the Personal Care Ingredients

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope of the Report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Market Landscape

Part 05: Pipeline Analysis

Part 06: Market Sizing

Part 07: Five Forces Analysis

Part 08: Market Segmentation

Part 09: Customer Landscape

Part 10: Regional Landscape

Part 11: Decision Framework

Part 12: Drivers and Challenges

Part 13: Market Trends

Part 14: Vendor Landscape

Part 15: Vendor Analysis

Part 16: Appendix

Countries Studied:

North America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States, Rest of Americas)

Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe)

Middle-East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Rest of MEA)

Asia-Pacific (Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Some of the major players operating in the remotely operated vehicle market are:

Fugro (U.K.).

IKM Gruppen AS (Switzerland)

ECA GROUP (France)

SeaRobotics Corp. (U.S.)

ROVCO (U.K.)

The Whale Company (U.K.)

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. (U.S.)

Total Marine Technology (Australia)

SUBSEA 7 (U.K.)

Saab Seaeye Ltd (U.K.)

Oceaneering International Inc. (U.S.)

Planys Technologies (India)

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About Data Bridge Market Research:

Data Bridge set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.

Contact Us:

Data Bridge Market Research

US: +1 888 387 2818

UK: +44 208 089 1725

Hong Kong: +852 8192 7475

Email: corporatesales@databridgemarketresearch.com"

[localbizchronicles]

The Impact of Underwater ROVs on Underwater Archaeology

Underwater ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) have revolutionised underwater archaeology by making deep-sea exploration more accessible, precise, and safe. Traditionally, archaeologists faced immense challenges in exploring shipwrecks and submerged ruins due to depth, visibility, and pressure limitations. With the advent of advanced underwater ROVs, these obstacles have significantly diminished.

Equipped with high-resolution cameras, sonar systems, and robotic arms, ROVs can access delicate archaeological sites without disturbing them. They allow researchers to document artefacts, map underwater terrains, and even retrieve samples with precision. This technology has unveiled countless treasures, from ancient shipwrecks to submerged cities, providing invaluable insights into history and cultures.

Underwater ROVs are now an essential tool in preserving fragile underwater sites, ensuring minimal human interference while maximising data collection.For cutting-edge solutions in underwater exploration, trust the best underwater ROV manufacturer in San Jose, California, for reliable and innovative technology.

[demie90s]

And The Crowd is…Concerned?

꒰ 🍒 ꒱ UConn!Team X READER ꒰ 🍒 ꒱ MASTERLIST

Part 1, Part 3

⭑ pairing: UConn!Team x reader (funny!fem!reader)

⭑ summary: Geno tries to do a safety meeting, but the team can’t focus after watching your unhinged late-night driving rant go viral. Again.

⭑ genre: comedy, hood wisdom, full delusion

⭑ warnings: chaotic energy, unfiltered language, Geno’s rising blood pressure

⭑ word count: ~

It’s the first week of preseason and Geno’s already fed up.

The whole team’s stuffed into the film room—hoodies up, edges sweated out, breakfast burritos halfway eaten. Nobody speaks. The screen up front says “2025 UConn Preseason Safety and Conduct Review.”

Azzi’s already whispering. “Watch, he gon’ bring up my milkshake in the cold tub again.”

Geno walks in. Silent. Clicks the remote.

“This year,” he says, slow and tired, “we’re doing it different.”

The projector blinks. First slide? “DO NOT DO THIS.”

Then: photos.

KK nearly busting her knee on a Bird scooter.

Aubrey in mid-air falling off the bench while TikToking in socks.

Paige with a Hot Cheeto bag balanced on her leg mid-stretch like a sorcerer of chaos.

Then it hits.

Your photo.

Full 4K, unholy clarity.

You. On Instagram Live. Driving. One hand on the wheel, the other out the window flipping someone off. Pinky up. Sunglasses on. Mouth mid-rant.

The room EXPLODES.

Nika drops her protein bar. Ayanna starts wheezing. KK screams “NO WAY.” Geno? Geno clicks again. It’s a video now. Volume up.

You on live:

“Y’all so today I’m going shopping—”

HONKKKK

“—and you just gotta be true to yourself cause—BITCH HIT MY CAR I DARE YOU. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU. I’MA BE ON YO ASS LIKE STANK ON SHIT.”

Another honk. Tires screech.

You: “Anyways y’all but yeah, no. Life’s really about gratitude.”

Geno doesn’t even speak this time—he just rubs his eyes and mutters, “Lord, give me strength.”

On the screen: a screenshot. YOU. Mid-sentence. Mid-swerve. Edges laid, lashes still on from yesterday, UConn hoodie zipped halfway and one AirPod in. You look beautiful, dangerous, and legally unfit to operate a vehicle.

The caption on your Instagram Live?

“driving 2 heal ❤️‍🩹”

The clip plays:

You: “So y’all I was at Target right, and this man—THIS MAN—gone reach across me like I was a damn display. I said sir… sir, don’t do that. I am not the lotion aisle. I will fold you like a fitted sheet—”

HONKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

You: “—BITCH HIT ME IF YOU WANT. I BEEN WANTIN’ SOMEBODY TO TRY ME TODAY. TRY ME SO I CAN PRAY IN HANDCUFFS. I’M READY TO MEDITATE IN THE HOLDING CELL. AIN’T NOBODY IN THERE BUT ME AND MY SPIRITUAL GROWTH.”

camera shakes violently

You: “Oh wait… Chick-fil-A on the left lemme—” tires screech “—LORD IF I HIT THIS CURB I’M STILL GONNA EAT GOOD.”

The team is absolutely done.

Paige is crying in her hoodie. Nika wheezes and grabs your leg. Azzi says “nahhh” so many times it starts to sound like a remix. KK’s on the floor. Ayanna is filming them filming you.

Geno? Geno’s standing in the front like he’s witnessing the fall of Rome.

He yells, “WHO IS HOLDING THE PHONE WHILE DRIVING? WHO?!”

You: “First of all… why am I under attack?”

“You were LIVE.”

“I was telling a story!”

“You hit a curb!”

“And I bounced back. That’s resilience.”

The video keeps rolling. You’re now mid-lane-switch with no signal.

You: “Sometimes y’all just gotta stop arguing with people and run them over with grace. Like—gracefully. Not petty, just powerful. There’s a difference. Be the bigger person but also make sure they know you’ll stomp they ass out behind a tinted window if needed.”

honks in the distance

“Anyway y’all, I’m healing.”

⸻

The comments under the clip are unhinged:

“She the MLK of hood wisdom.”

“Not ‘meditate in the holding cell’ 😭😭😭”

“If she’s not mic’d up for every game I don’t want it.”

“Geno bout to have a stroke fr.”

“This the female IamZoie but make it D1.”

“You were wearing UConn gear. Public Instagram. Driving like it’s Need For Speed: Hood Edition.”

“Freedom of expression,” you shrug.

Later that day, the UConn media team posts the clip with dramatic violin music under it. The caption reads:

“Preseason Conduct Review: Certified Hood Behavior ❌”

The comments are already insane:

“She said ‘life’s about gratitude’ while threatening to end a man’s bloodline.”

“No but she’s the main character fr.”

“UConn got the craziest athletes I fear.”

“WHERE’S THE FULL LIVE FOOTAGE 👀”

“Geno is gonna retire early cause of her.”

You repost it to your story with a halo emoji and “healing journey 2025💕.”

[montereybayaquarium]

🌊🚢Embark on a  journey with us aboard the research vessel Rachel Carson as we explore the mysteries of the deep sea with MBARI.

Watch an ROV, remotely operated vehicle, in action as it uncovers secrets of the seafloor and aids in groundbreaking research. 

From high-tech robots to delightful discoveries, sea how we're advancing our knowledge and protecting the planet's largest habitat.

Thanks @mbari-blog for letting us tag along and for the deep-sea footage.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Cleantech has an enshittification problem

On July 14, I'm giving the closing keynote for the fifteenth HACKERS ON PLANET EARTH, in QUEENS, NY. Happy Bastille Day! On July 20, I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

EVs won't save the planet. Ultimately, the material bill for billions of individual vehicles and the unavoidable geometry of more cars-more traffic-more roads-greater distances-more cars dictate that the future of our cities and planet requires public transit – lots of it.

But no matter how much public transit we install, there's always going to be some personal vehicles on the road, and not just bikes, ebikes and scooters. Between deliveries, accessibility, and stubbornly low-density regions, there's going to be a lot of cars, vans and trucks on the road for the foreseeable future, and these should be electric.

Beyond that irreducible minimum of personal vehicles, there's the fact that individuals can't install their own public transit system; in places that lack the political will or means to create working transit, EVs are a way for people to significantly reduce their personal emissions.

In policy circles, EV adoption is treated as a logistical and financial issue, so governments have focused on making EVs affordable and increasing the density of charging stations. As an EV owner, I can affirm that affordability and logistics were important concerns when we were shopping for a car.

But there's a third EV problem that is almost entirely off policy radar: enshittification.

An EV is a rolling computer in a fancy case with a squishy person inside of it. While this can sound scary, there are lots of cool implications for this. For example, your EV could download your local power company's tariff schedule and preferentially charge itself when the rates are lowest; they could also coordinate with the utility to reduce charging when loads are peaking. You can start them with your phone. Your repair technician can run extensive remote diagnostics on them and help you solve many problems from the road. New features can be delivered over the air.

That's just for starters, but there's so much more in the future. After all, the signal virtue of a digital computer is its flexibility. The only computer we know how to make is the Turing complete, universal, Von Neumann machine, which can run every valid program. If a feature is computationally tractable – from automated parallel parking to advanced collision prevention – it can run on a car.

The problem is that this digital flexibility presents a moral hazard to EV manufacturers. EVs are designed to make any kind of unauthorized, owner-selected modification into an IP rights violation ("IP" in this case is "any law that lets me control the conduct of my customers or competitors"):

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

EVs are also designed so that the manufacturer can unilaterally exert control over them or alter their operation. EVs – even more than conventional vehicles – are designed to be remotely killswitched in order to help manufacturers and dealers pressure people into paying their car notes on time:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

Manufacturers can reach into your car and change how much of your battery you can access:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

They can lock your car and have it send its location to a repo man, then greet him by blinking its lights, honking its horn, and pulling out of its parking space:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

And of course, they can detect when you've asked independent mechanic to service your car and then punish you by degrading its functionality:

https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2024/06/26/two-of-eight-claims-in-tesla-anti-trust-lawsuit-will-move-forward/

This is "twiddling" – unilaterally and irreversibly altering the functionality of a product or service, secure in the knowledge that IP law will prevent anyone from twiddling back by restoring the gadget to a preferred configuration:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

The thing is, for an EV, twiddling is the best case scenario. As bad as it is for the company that made your EV to change how it works whenever they feel like picking your pocket, that's infinitely preferable to the manufacturer going bankrupt and bricking your car.

That's what just happened to owners of Fisker EVs, cars that cost $40-70k. Cars are long-term purchases. An EV should last 12-20 years, or even longer if you pay to swap the battery pack. Fisker was founded in 2016 and shipped its first Ocean SUV in 2023. The company is now bankrupt:

https://insideevs.com/news/723669/fisker-inc-bankruptcy-chapter-11-official/

Fisker called its vehicles "software-based cars" and they weren't kidding. Without continuous software updates and server access, those Fisker Ocean SUVs are turning into bricks. What's more, the company designed the car from the ground up to make any kind of independent service and support into a felony, by wrapping the whole thing in overlapping layers of IP. That means that no one can step in with a module that jailbreaks the Fisker and drops in an alternative firmware that will keep the fleet rolling.

This is the third EV risk – not just finance, not just charger infrastructure, but the possibility that any whizzy, cool new EV company will go bust and brick your $70k cleantech investment, irreversibly transforming your car into 5,500 lb worth of e-waste.

This confers a huge advantage onto the big automakers like VW, Kia, Ford, etc. Tesla gets a pass, too, because it achieved critical mass before people started to wise up to the risk of twiddling and bricking. If you're making a serious investment in a product you expect to use for 20 years, are you really gonna buy it from a two-year old startup with six months' capital in the bank?

The incumbency advantage here means that the big automakers won't have any reason to sink a lot of money into R&D, because they won't have to worry about hungry startups with cool new ideas eating their lunches. They can maintain the cozy cartel that has seen cars stagnate for decades, with the majority of "innovation" taking the form of shitty, extractive and ill-starred ideas like touchscreen controls and an accelerator pedal that you have to rent by the month:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23474969/mercedes-car-subscription-faster-acceleration-feature-price

Put that way, it's clear that this isn't an EV problem, it's a cleantech problem. Cleantech has all the problems of EVs: it requires a large capital expenditure, it will be "smart," and it is expected to last for decades. That's rooftop solar, heat-pumps, smart thermostat sensor arrays, and home storage batteries.

And just as with EVs, policymakers have focused on infrastructure and affordability without paying any attention to the enshittification risks. Your rooftop solar will likely be controlled via a Solaredge box – a terrible technology that stops working if it can't reach the internet for a protracted period (that's right, your home solar stops working if the grid fails!).

I found this out the hard way during the covid lockdowns, when Solaredge terminated its 3G cellular contract and notified me that I would have to replace the modem in my system or it would stop working. This was at the height of the supply-chain crisis and there was a long waiting list for any replacement modems, with wifi cards (that used your home internet rather than a cellular connection) completely sold out for most of a year.

There are good reasons to connect rooftop solar arrays to the internet – it's not just so that Solaredge can enshittify my service. Solar arrays that coordinate with the grid can make it much easier and safer to manage a grid that was designed for centralized power production and is being retrofitted for distributed generation, one roof at a time.

But when the imperatives of extraction and efficiency go to war, extraction always wins. After all, the Solaredge system is already in place and solar installers are largely ignorant of, and indifferent to, the reasons that a homeowner might want to directly control and monitor their system via local controls that don't roundtrip through the cloud.

Somewhere in the hindbrain of any prospective solar purchaser is the experience with bricked and enshittified "smart" gadgets, and the knowledge that anything they buy from a cool startup with lots of great ideas for improving production, monitoring, and/or costs poses the risk of having your 20 year investment bricked after just a few years – and, thanks to the extractive imperative, no one will be able to step in and restore your ex-solar array to good working order.

I make the majority of my living from books, which means that my pay is very "lumpy" – I get large sums when I publish a book and very little in between. For many years, I've used these payments to make big purchases, rather than financing them over long periods where I can't predict my income. We've used my book payments to put in solar, then an induction stove, then a battery. We used one to buy out the lease on our EV. And just a month ago, we used the money from my upcoming Enshittification book to put in a heat pump (with enough left over to pay for a pair of long-overdue cataract surgeries, scheduled for the fall).

When we started shopping for heat pumps, it was clear that this was a very exciting sector. First of all, heat pumps are kind of magic, so efficient and effective it's almost surreal. But beyond the basic tech – which has been around since the late 1940s – there is a vast ferment of cool digital features coming from exciting and innovative startups.

By nature, I'm the kid of person who likes these digital features. I started out as a computer programmer, and while I haven't written production code since the previous millennium, I've been in and around the tech industry for my whole adult life. But when it came time to buy a heat-pump – an investment that I expected to last for 20 years or more – there was no way I was going to buy one of these cool new digitally enhanced pumps, no matter how much the reviewers loved them. Sure, they'd work well, but it's precisely because I'm so knowledgeable about high tech that I could see that they would fail very, very badly.

You may think EVs are bullshit, and they are – though there will always be room for some personal vehicles, and it's better for people in transit deserts to drive EVs than gas-guzzlers. You may think rooftop solar is a dead-end and be all-in on utility scale solar (I think we need both, especially given the grid-disrupting extreme climate events on our horizon). But there's still a wide range of cleantech – induction tops, heat pumps, smart thermostats – that are capital intensive, have a long duty cycle, and have good reasons to be digitized and networked.

Take home storage batteries: your utility can push its rate card to your battery every time they change their prices, and your battery can use that information to decide when to let your house tap into the grid, and when to switch over to powering your home with the solar you've stored up during the day. This is a very old and proven pattern in tech: the old Fidonet BBS network used a version of this, with each BBS timing its calls to other nodes to coincide with the cheapest long-distance rates, so that messages for distant systems could be passed on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Cleantech is a very dynamic sector, even if its triumphs are largely unheralded. There's a quiet revolution underway in generation, storage and transmission of renewable power, and a complimentary revolution in power-consumption in vehicles and homes:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/12/s-curve/#anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-eventually-stops

But cleantech is too important to leave to the incumbents, who are addicted to enshittification and planned obsolescence. These giant, financialized firms lack the discipline and culture to make products that have the features – and cost savings – to make them appealing to the very wide range of buyers who must transition as soon as possible, for the sake of the very planet.

It's not enough for our policymakers to focus on financing and infrastructure barriers to cleantech adoption. We also need a policy-level response to enshittification.

Ideally, every cleantech device would be designed so that it was impossible to enshittify – which would also make it impossible to brick:

Based on free software (best), or with source code escrowed with a trustee who must release the code if the company enters administration (distant second-best);

All patents in a royalty-free patent-pool (best); or in a trust that will release them into a royalty-free pool if the company enters administration (distant second-best);

No parts-pairing or other DRM permitted (best); or with parts-pairing utilities available to all parties on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis (distant second-best);

All diagnostic and error codes in the public domain, with all codes in the clear within the device (best); or with decoding utilities available on demand to all comers on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis (distant second-best).

There's an obvious business objection to this: it will reduce investment in innovative cleantech because investors will perceive these restrictions as limits on the expected profits of their portfolio companies. It's true: these measures are designed to prevent rent-extraction and other enshittificatory practices by cleantech companies, and to the extent that investors are counting on enshittification rents, this might prevent them from investing.

But that has to be balanced against the way that a general prohibition on enshittificatory practices will inspire consumer confidence in innovative and novel cleantech products, because buyers will know that their investments will be protected over the whole expected lifespan of the product, even if the startup goes bust (nearly every startup goes bust). These measures mean that a company with a cool product will have a much larger customer-base to sell to. Those additional sales more than offset the loss of expected revenue from cheating and screwing your customers by twiddling them to death.

There's also an obvious legal objection to this: creating these policies will require a huge amount of action from Congress and the executive branch, a whole whack of new rules and laws to make them happen, and each will attract court-challenges.

That's also true, though it shouldn't stop us from trying to get legal reforms. As a matter of public policy, it's terrible and fucked up that companies can enshittify the things we buy and leave us with no remedy.

However, we don't have to wait for legal reform to make this work. We can take a shortcut with procurement – the things governments buy with public money. The feds, the states and localities buy a lot of cleantech: for public facilities, for public housing, for public use. Prudent public policy dictates that governments should refuse to buy any tech unless it is designed to be enshittification-resistant.

This is an old and honorable tradition in policymaking. Lincoln insisted that the rifles he bought for the Union Army come with interoperable tooling and ammo, for obvious reasons. No one wants to be the Commander in Chief who shows up on the battlefield and says, "Sorry, boys, war's postponed, our sole supplier decided to stop making ammunition."

By creating a market for enshittification-proof cleantech, governments can ensure that the public always has the option of buying an EV that can't be bricked even if the maker goes bust, a heat-pump whose digital features can be replaced or maintained by a third party of your choosing, a solar controller that coordinates with the grid in ways that serve their owners – not the manufacturers' shareholders.

We're going to have to change a lot to survive the coming years. Sure, there's a lot of scary ways that things can go wrong, but there's plenty about our world that should change, and plenty of ways those changes could be for the better. It's not enough for policymakers to focus on ensuring that we can afford to buy whatever badly thought-through, extractive tech the biggest companies want to foist on us – we also need a focus on making cleantech fit for purpose, truly smart, reliable and resilient.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/#better-micetraps

Image: 臺灣古寫真上色 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raid_on_Kagi_City_1945.jpg

Grendelkhan (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ground_mounted_solar_panels.gk.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[johnalveschaf]

Hiring skilled engineers and professional divers lets work in assessment teams to see and handle, the conditions of the structures are usually fixed or zero-visibility situations. After considering top rov companies handled firsthand, they choose the possible causes of losses and follow up with suggestions for corrective action. The underwater rovs team also have worked with design firms, government agencies, contractors, property owners, etc.

[herpsandbirds]

Jellyfish 🪼?

Oh yes, here are some favorites for you...

The many faces of Paraphyllina sp.

⁠This crimson jellyfish uses the color red to camouflage itself in the deep sea. Because wavelengths of light in the red end of the spectrum are preferentially absorbed by seawater, red animals disappear into the darkness of the deep ocean. This enables them to ambush unsuspecting prey or avoid a hungry predator. The red pigment may also help to mask any bioluminescent prey that it has eaten. MBARI researchers use ROVs (and their bright lights) to see these enigmatic animals in their habitat and gain more knowledge about their ecology.

via: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)

With a bell diameter of up to a meter wide, this jelly, named Tiburonia granrojo, would seem tough to miss.

But it lives deep below the ocean’s surface, at depths of 650 to 1500 meters (2000 to 4800 feet). MBARI scientists observed the jelly using video cameras on deep-diving remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). In 2003, the jelly is named after MBARI’s ROV Tiburon. Although MBARI scientists saw this jelly during ROV dives as early as 1993, it was not described as a new species until several years later in 2003.

via: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Poralia rufescens

There are lots of gelatinous animals in the ocean, but when you hear the word jellyfish you probably think of something like this. The so-called “true” jellyfish, a class called the Scyphozoans, are the ones you usually see near the ocean surface. Taxonomically, jellies are far more varied than a handful of examples that are that are used to represent jellyfish. For example, this species, Poralia rufescens, is one most people will never see. It lives deep below the sea surface to thousands of meters and is usually seen floating near the seafloor, sometimes we see hundreds of them on an ROV dive! Learn more about the scyphozoans at our Deep-Sea Guide: 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute