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Commissioners approve $100,865 purchase of underwater robotic vehicle for river rescues
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Summary
The commission voted unanimously to buy an OceanBotics remote‑operated vehicle with sonar and a robotic grabber to help locate and retrieve submerged victims in the river; city staff said the company will provide on‑site training.
The Bowling Green Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a sole‑source purchase of an OceanBotics remote‑operated vehicle (ROV) with sonar and a robotic grabber on March 4 to aid water‑rescue operations.
The municipal order (2025‑50) authorizes the city to accept and pay $100,865 for the unit, which staff described as better suited to the river’s currents and low visibility than other products the department evaluated.
Deputy Chief Morris, who helped research the purchase, told commissioners the ROV will be carried on the recently approved rescue boat and can be deployed in under three minutes. He said the vehicle uses sonar to locate a submerged victim and a camera plus a robotic arm to grasp and recover the person from the water.
“We deploy the drone, we go to where the sonar has indicated the victim is, and then using the camera, we find the victim. And it has an arm that is able to reach out and grab the victim, and then we pull the drone back into the boat,” Deputy Chief Morris said. “The hope is that we locate, find, and remove the victim, in under 10 minutes.”
City staff said OceanBotics will provide on‑site training for city personnel and that the device is intended to reduce reliance on outside dive teams that can take hours to arrive. Commissioners and the mayor framed the purchase as an investment to improve the likelihood of recovering submerged victims more quickly.
The purchase was described in the agenda packet as an OceanBotics SRV‑8 model and was recommended as a sole‑source procurement based on comparative specifications and local operational needs. The municipal order passed by roll call with all five commissioners voting yes.
