Saab help to put 'bite into Bollywood'

5th January 2009 - 17:11 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Saab have figured out what it takes to make a shark to eat an actor gently.

Apparently it takes five brushless DC thrusters and velocity feedback for precise and rapid control in all directions.

When the Bollywood movie, ‘LUCK’, was filmed in South Africa, a Saab Seaeye Falcon ROV was strapped beneath a giant 4.2 metre long Latex and Polyurethane replica of a tiger shark − then sent to eat luckless victims trying to escape a sinking container.

The realistic swimming motion of the shark and its violent attack can be realistically recreated, thanks to skilful and precise fingertip control of the Falcon by the ROV pilots Steve Wilkinson and Nicolas Stroud of Marine Solutions.

Although small and compact, the Falcon is powerful enough to manoeuvre the 400Kg model in both swimming pool and the open ocean − the tricky bit is being able to balance the buoyancy in sea water and fresh water.

This is not the first time the Falcon and shark have starred together. Owned by the South African special effects company CFX, the shark, has worked on many projects with the ROV, operated by Cape Town based Marine Solutions who specialises in the sales, rental, repairs, maintenance and technical support of underwater systems.

The world-wide success of the Falcon ROV, sees it starring across a range of industries , including oil and gas, defence, marine science, underwater tourism – and now the movies.

Its success comes from ease of handling in hostile environmental conditions and holding steady in strong cross currents. Its distributed intelligence control system also allows up to 128 devices to be connected together on a single RS 485 serial network. This means different equipment can be added easily and changed as needed. Even a rubber shark!