ROV Exploration

Exploring the world hidden underwater has been compared to discovering in space. In New England we have natural & historical mysteries hidden beneath the dark waters.

Exploration underwater can pose many challenges and dangers. In the past it was reserved to the few who had access to specially design equipment and hi-tech devices. Today this technology has become more accessible to the general public as affordable ROVs, or underwater tools developed by the maker community.

Seeing the many pieces of history waiting to be explored in New England, I acquired OpenROV’s Trident, one of the best of the new affordable underwater drones. In the few months since it arrived, a team of fellow explorers and I have already begun to peek into some of the long-forgotten pieces of our early history, hidden beneath the surface. Having identified some of the issues and challenges I have begun to develop some additional tools and technology to overcome them. With each new dive we are slowly designing the technologies & protocols for underwater exploration for future citizen scientists.

Recently I teamed up with members from the group known as Iron Miners. They hunt down remarkable history and fantastic locations long forgotten in New England. What makes them unique, is that they pursue stories connected to mines lost in the forests across the northeast. Some of these tales are connected to important moments in the early history of America. I had such a great time working with them on the Lost cave of Monroe, and the Croft Mine mine in NY, I already have plans to team up with them on some fascinating projects in 2019.

Here is some of the footage from several dives we did.

Find out more about Michael’s ROVs here: https://www.michael-girard.com/wp/proteus-1-proteus-2/