HERC.JPG

Woods Hole 
Marine Systems, Inc.

PO Box 164
Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543   USA
508/289-1236  
fx: 508/540-1036

www.whmsi.com

whmsi @ whmsi.com


WHMSI is an oceanographic engineering service company. We specialize in the development and deployment of unmanned, teleoperated underwater vehicles and associated equipment. WHMSI was founded in 1998 by its Chief Engineer, Jim Newman. 

Our primary client for our first decade in business was Dr. Robert Ballard's Institute for Exploration.  We developed a suite of underwater vehicles for search and investigation, particularly in support of archaeology. ARGUS is a towsled that supports a high definition video camera, and HMI lighting.  ARGUS can operate independently or as a partner for an ROV.  We built a small Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), Little Hercules (shown below) in early 2000, with a 4000 meter depth rating and capable of carrying a large high definition camera. We operated these first two vehicles on IFE expeditions to the Black Sea (September 2000) and Pearl Harbor (November 2000).

During 2001 we developed and fielded a sidescan sonar survey system, ECHO. We built and fielded a shallow water ROV, Orpheus, to provide interactive inter-coastal video experiences from NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries.

In 2003 we completed a larger ROV, HERCULES (shown above), which we used with IFE during the summer of 2003 for archaeological work on ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. We have supported a number of expeditions in the subsequent years on a variety of support ships, including expeditions to investigate geology and biology in the Atlantic and a 2005 survey of the wreck of the RMS Titanic. 

During 2009-2010 we were deeply involved in development of a new ship to support these systems, the Exploration Vessel NAUTILUS, for Dr. Ballard's Ocean Exploration Trust.

 

Since 2010 we have been involved in a variety of projects for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Rhode Island, Hydroid , and NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration.

 

ittle Hercules off Oahu

    

Jim Newman's personal web page

Links to related Organizations:

Institute for Exploration
University of Rhode Island GSO
 The Marine Technology Society

 NOAA/Office of Ocean Exploration
URI Ocean Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Underwater Vehicle Links:

MBARI (home of Ventana and Tiburon)
WHOI Deep Submergence Lab (home of JASON, NEREUS and SENTRY)
WHOI Oceanographic Systems Lab (home of REMUS)


Some North American commercial builders of underwater vehicles:

Benthos
Deep Sea Systems International
International Submarine Engineering (ISE)
Bluefin Robotics
Hydroid 
Webb Research Corp

Links to local stuff:

Marine and Oceanographic Technology Network (MOTN)
Cape Cod Technology Council
Woods Hole Business Association
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Revised  14jan2012
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