The ROV KIEL 6000 is a remotely operated vehicle built by Schilling Robotics, Davis, California. It's in the possession of the German GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The ROV has been designed for certain scientific tasks with a max. operational depth of 6,000 m (19,685 feet). The ROV is electrically powered and directly linked to the operating ship via a deep-sea glass fiber cable. It can be operated from ships of opportunity which fulfill certain requirements such as deck space and stability, power supply, dynamic positioning and crane/winch capacities.
ROV KIEL 6000 is used within multidisciplinary scientific projects such as the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean" and for the installation and maintenance of ocean observatories.
| vehicle type | QUEST 7, electrical "workclass" ROV (Schilling Robotics LLC) | |
| working depth | up to 6000 m | |
| dimensions | length 3.5 m, width 1.9 m, height 2.4 m (including toolskid) | |
| weight | in air: ca. 3500 kg (incl. toolskid); in water: neutral | |
| speed | 3.0 kn ahead/astern (1.5 m/s); 2.0 kn lateral and vertical (1 m/s) | |
| thrust | 530 kgf ahead/astern; 340 kgf lateral; 300/380 kgf vertical | |
| propulsion system | 7 electric motors SPE-380 with 600 VDC @ 10 kW each (sub-Atlantic Inc.) | |
| auto heading | ± 2° | |
| station keep (DP) | ± 0.3 m | |
| electric power | 3800 - 4160 VAC/460 Hz; 60 kW on the vehicle | |
| deep-sea cable | 6500 m @ 19 mm; 1.3 t/km in air = 8.45 t; 1 t/km in water = 6.2 t in max. water depth; 3 copper wires with 4 mm2 diameter; 3 fibre optic cable (LWL) SM | |
| deep-sea winch | 2 electric motors @ 80 kW each; weight incl. cable: ca. 30 t | |
| digital telemetry | 4 nodes with 16 ports each (serial, video and Ethernet); multiplexer for data transfer in the Gbit range (including HDTV and high- resolution multibeam depth sounder) | |
| scientific payload | up to 100 kg on toolskid with 2 hydraulically driven drawers | |
| hydraulic pump | 15 kW with 39 lpm @ 207 bar; supplies power for the manipulators and drawers; other hydraulically driven tools can be added via valvepacks | |
| transport of the entire system | five 20' ISO containers (two of which are high cube containers) | |
| system weight | 65 t | |
| certification | Germanischer Lloyd, Hamburg |