ADEPT AT DEPTH 



F. R. Haselton 



Office of Naval Material 



Washington, D.C. 



There is only one recorded instance when an individual maintained complete 

 control of all his faculties while in the depths of the sea. Today we are gingerly 

 exploring this capability in our Man-in-the-Sea experiments, but it is not likely 

 that man will venture much beyond 1000 feet while exposed to the environment. 

 The alternative is to encase himself in a pressure vessel and, thus, permit vis- 

 its to the greatest depths. This very act of encasement, however, presently de- 

 nies to him the ability to perform all but the most primitive functions. How 

 frustrating it is for man, who can thread a needle or write the Ten Command- 

 ments on the head of a pin in his normal environment, not to be able to perform 

 but the most elemental, dexterous task in the deep oceans. Need this be so? 



It is the aim of this paper to bring into focus those technologies which may 

 be brought to bear in order to permit man to, indeed, be adept at depth. Of 

 course, for one to be adept, he must be adept at something. The less complex 

 the task assigned, the easier the design of a tool with which a man is adept. It 

 is not economically or technologically feasible to permit man to extend his full 

 dexterity through the pressure vessel. On the other hand, he will not be content 

 to merely observe. We must then decide which general tasks are worth perform- 

 ing and the most effective means toward those ends. In order that the scope of 

 this paper be bounded, let us postulate such a task to be performed and present 

 the means by which successful accomplishment could be attained. 



The task is to perform a rescue mission from a disabled submarine. It has 

 been determined that this mission requires a manned submersible vehicle faced 

 with the following constraints: (a) air transportability, (b) operation in variable 

 water currents, (c) operation in various visibility states, (d) distressed subma- 

 rine at angles to 45°, (e) under-ice operation, (f) not sea state limited, (g) trans- 

 portable by mother submarine, (h) endurance to complete rescue mission, (i) 

 adequate depth capability, and (j) maximum secondary mission capability. 



The vehicle possessing these attributes must be nimble, indeed, to perform 

 hatchmating and carry at least one prosthetic device for accomplishing such 

 tasks as hatch clearance of debris. 



What are the necessary elements which will permit success? The answer 

 is obviously a highly responsive vehicle and arm, but consider those elements 

 which contribute to responsiveness. For man to impose his will effectively, 

 there are three areas of concern. These may be classed as sensory informa- 

 tion, command translators, and the vehicle and arm dynamics. 



305 



