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April 2011www.sname.org/sname/mt (in review) REVIEWED BY WILLIAM P. STEWART This is the most compre- hensive book written to date on remotely oper- ated vehicles (ROVs). Each chapter addresses an aspect of ROV design and culmi- nates in a nal chapter oering useful modern design guide- lines on how to build your own ROV in your home, classroom, shop, or laboratory. The U.S. has fallen from third to seventeenth in the world in the number of col- lege graduates in engineering programs. U.S. government agencies have concluded that there is a critical shortage of undergraduates receiving their degrees in science and engi- neering. In the U.S., only 5% of science degrees are awarded in engineering, compared with 50% in China. Programs at Marine Advanced Technology Education Center (MATE) and MIT are among those aiming to shift the balance. e SeaPerch ROV educational program, developed at MIT, funded by the Oce of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering, and managed by SNAME, was inspired by the 1997 book, Build Your Own Underwater Robot and Other Wet Projects , by Harry Bohm and Vickie Jensen, co- authors of this new book. Underwater Robotics is an extension of this program. MATE is also supported by the ONR and this textbook gives them a strong technical lead. e third author of the book, Steven Moore, is a bioengineer with a passion for the underwater world. Underwater Robotics contains exceptional graphics and pho- tos and copious technical notes, making it a very good teaching tool. e target audience is high school students, but the textbook works well for college undergraduates. It also is useful for faculty members who want to know about the real world of underwater vehicles, the workhorses of the subsea oil and gas industry, as many of us have seen in live footage of activities following the Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico last year. Most instructors teaching ocean engineering courses would do well to make Underwater Robotics compulsory reading, although the book is long and would require a full semester to properly assimilate. Each chapter begins with historic accounts of technolo- gies associated with the chapter. is practice helps to keep what is still an emerging technology in perspective. e book has such useful detail that many interested readers will be encouraged to learn more, thanks to the authorsĀ well-conceived presentations. The culminating chapter contains a parts list and detailed instructions on how to build a working ROV, a SeaMATE. I will be doing this soon, both in my own workshops and at local schools and colleges, as a way to give back to engineering some of the benets that I have enjoyed in my career. I plan to use this book to encourage high-school students around the world to take more interest in oshore engineering. e book can help sow the seeds of engineering ambition and inquisitiveness in the minds of all readers and especially those who go on to build and test drive a SeaMATE. MTWilliam (Bil) P. Stewart is a SNAME member and past chairman of the Oshore Committee. Underwater Robotics By Steven W. Moore, Harry Bohm, and Vickie Jensen PUBLISHED BY MARINE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION CENTER Going Beneath the Surface continued Underwater Robotics contains exceptional graphics and photos and copious technical notes.