ROV pilots operate in uniquely challenging environments where vessel motion directly compromises their cognitive and physical abilities. Research provides compelling evidence of these effects.

McCauley Research

Even mild motion sickness, which doesn’t cause vomiting but creates discomfort, significantly impairs an ROV pilot’s cognitive performance. Matsangas and McCauley’s research documented alarming performance declines in symptomatic operators:

• 31.7% reduction in memory task performance
• 14.7% decline in arithmetic capabilities
• 9.43% overall decrease in composite cognitive task scores

These impairments occur even when motion sickness symptoms are mild and not incapacitating. The study notes: “Multitasking cognitive performance declined even when motion sickness and soporific symptoms were mild. The results also show an order effect.” This means performance degradation worsens over time during operations.

Royal Navy Research

A comprehensive Royal Navy study investigating seasickness among naval personnel revealed striking insights directly relevant to ROV pilots working in vessel-based control rooms.

Seasickness Triggers
The research, conducted during sea-keeping trials aboard HMS GURKHA and HMS HERMIONE, identified ship pitching motion (forward-backward rocking) as the predominant trigger for seasickness, significantly more problematic than rolling (side-to-side), yawing (horizontal rotation), or heaving (up-down) movements. Specifically, 42% of all sailors surveyed singled out pitching as the primary motion causing their symptoms. This group represented approximately 60% of those who experienced any form of seasickness.

Impact of Sea Conditions
The research clearly demonstrated how dramatically sea conditions affect personnel regardless of their experience level or position.

Sea conditions

• In calm waters very few sailors reported seasickness symptoms
• In rough seas 65-70% of all personnel experienced some degree of seasickness

Perhaps most concerning for operational readiness, approximately half of all sailors reported difficulty continuing their assigned duties during these episodes.

PubMed Questionaire Study

Prolonged exposure to vessel motion causes sopite syndrome - a condition characterised by drowsiness, fatigue, and reduced alertness. A 2015 cross-sectional questionnaire study published on PubMed surveyed 250 oceanographers over a three-month period. A comprehensive study found that 91.7% of women and 80.8% of men reported experiencing seasickness. Among women, 68.1% experienced symptoms occasionally and 23.6% on every voyage. For men, 69.5% reported occasional symptoms, while 11.3% experienced them on every voyage.

The effects of this motion sickness went far beyond mere discomfort. According to the study, 60% of the workers believed seasickness directly influenced the success of their missions. This impact manifested through affected mood (50%), deteriorated interpersonal relationships (23%), and-most concerningly-increased risk of accidents involving falls, machinery, or laboratory equipment (40%).

For ROV pilots who must maintain intense concentration and vigilance during 12-hour shifts, sopite syndrome creates a dangerous degradation in operational awareness and responsiveness.

ROV Pilots’ Feedback

Trainee ROV pilots on platforms like gCaptain described vomiting during initial offshore rotations. One user noted:

The boat’s pitching made me useless for hours - I couldn’t focus on the ROV feed without feeling dizzy

A 2024 interview with an ROV Supervisor revealed:

Weather is the biggest challenge

Rough seas forced pilots to halt operations frequently, yet clients often pressured them to continue. “After vomiting, you’re just drained” - recovery time cut into productivity, with some pilots needing 24-hour rest.

ROV pilots work in demanding conditions:

Shifts can last up to 12 hours. Jobs typically take weeks to a month out at sea.

This extensive exposure to motion maximizes cumulative physiological effects and fatigue.

ROV operation occurs in confined spaces:

ROV operation takes place inside a control cabin shared with a small staff of around 3 people.

These cabins, while professionally equipped, concentrate the effects of vessel motion in small spaces where pilots have limited ability to adjust position or find stability.

Continuous Adaptation

Research shows that vessel motion produces complex effects on ROV systems: “The vessel heave may induce a parametric excitation response to the ROV system. Particularly, parametric resonance is most pronounced.” Additionally, “the ROV responses are larger than the vessel motion amplitudes in some cases owing to vessel surge.”

This means pilots must compensate for vessel motion effects that are unpredictably amplified in the ROV’s behavior, creating a cognitively demanding control challenge.

ROV pilots must “continuously adapt to the changing effects of the ocean environment on the vehicle. Such operations require intense concentration in order to achieve adequate control over the ROV’s maneuvers.” This continuous adaptation process rapidly depletes cognitive resources and accelerates fatigue.

A gyro-stabilised ROV pilot chair isolates operators from vessel motion. Gyro stabilisers are mounted in such a way that the force that disturbs the axis of orientation of the flywheel is (mainly) the force caused by rolling. When a vessel rolls due to wave motion, the on-board gyroscope responds by generating forces that oppose these movements.

We will write about this technology at a later stage.