Hercules
Gallery
Overview
Ocean Exploration Trust's 4,000 m ROV, known for live-streamed deep-sea exploration from E/V Nautilus.
Hercules is the deep-sea ROV of the Ocean Exploration Trust, the nonprofit founded by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard, and one of the best-known exploration robots thanks to live online broadcasts from the exploration vessel Nautilus. Roughly the size of a small car and weighing about 2.5 tonnes, it is rated to 4,000 m and works beneath the Argus towsled, which absorbs the ship's motion and lights the scene. Its manipulators and sampling tools collect up to 113 kg of rocks, organisms, and artefacts, and its cameras have documented shipwrecks, hydrothermal vents, and newly discovered species across the Pacific and Atlantic.
Primary Roles
Notes
OET figures: about 3.9 x 1.9 x 2.2 m, about 2,450-2,500 kg in air, rated to 4,000 m, 113 kg payload, 30-45 m tether to the Argus towsled. Operated by Robert Ballard's Ocean Exploration Trust from the 68 m E/V Nautilus.
