by 
By Piper Priddy, STEMSEAS Student
On June 23, our last full day on the E/V Nautilus, I was given the opportunity to participate in a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) deck check with a couple other STEMSEAS students (Gabi & Skyy). We met one of the ROV pilots prior to heading to the control van where he assigned me the pilot position. Gabi was instructed to be the argus pilot, and Skyy was our acting navigator. In the van, I was able to sit in the very fancy pilot chair in front of several monitors that were connected to cameras attached to the ROV Hercules. The entire room was illuminated by red LED lights that I have deemed the Darth Vader lights. According to Danny (the ROV pilot), the red LEDs are used to help everyone adjust to the light when coming in and out of the van, and to help the people working inside focus on the monitors during ROV dives. Once we were ready, we ran several tests with the cameras, lights, hydraulics, and sensors. We then had to pause our lesson to attend an all hands meeting at 3pm to prepare for departure on June 24. Afterwards, we returned to the control van to get hands-on experience controlling the Kraft predator manipulators – Magnus and Zeus – which are the arms and main camera on Hercules. The ROV pilots allowed us to try collecting some samples of a rare species called Orangenia coneicus (not really, it was in fact just an orange traffic cone). As soon as we were done, we reconvened with the rest of our STEMSEAS mates in the social deck eager to share all about our experiences.
