ROV

abbreviation or noun

ˌär-ˌō-ˈvē 

plural ROVs

: an uncrewed underwater vehicle operated by remote control (as to inspect or repair) and used especially in places that cannot be accessed safely or easily by people

The offshore energy industry has long depended on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to carry out critical subsea tasks, but their role has expanded beyond inspection. Today's advanced work-class ROVs support every stage of subsea pipeline construction …

—Oil & Gas News

… video from an ROV—a remotely operated vehicle like those that photographed the wreck of RMS Titanic—shows a large and jagged hole starboard-side forward …

—Tom Clancy

Simple tasks—like tying a rope in a knot or putting together a nut and bolt—might take an ROV … 30 minutes in deep water, [Mark] Campbell says. A human could do similar tasks in seconds. But we can't dive to 5,000 feet.

—John D. Sutter

compare rpv

Examples of ROV in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The scientists only got a passing glimpse of the goblin shark before the lights and loud noise from the ROV's motor scared it away, Auscavitch told ABC News. — Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 12 June 2026

The remains of the 21-year-old Northern Michigan University college student were located by volunteers from Hybrid Robotics, an underwater ROV manufacturing company, police said. — David Chiu, PEOPLE, 27 Apr. 2026

Delivered to the Marine Nationale, the system can integrate third-party assets (such as Autonomous Unmanned Vessel (AUV), Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) and conventional mine hunters), on an expeditionary portable operation centre, with the Lithuanian navy. — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 11 Apr. 2026

Unema’s new consultancy, Deep Exploration Solutions, has been given a contract to do the winter maintenance on the NOAA ROVs, and the firm is now on the lookout for more ROV design and upgrade work, as well as piloting jobs. — Edd Gent, IEEE Spectrum, 27 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

remotely operated vehicle

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above