Remotely operated vehicle (ROV)-based inspection, maintenance, and repairs (IMR) services are costly because operations are traditionally executed by a hired subsea contractor, who then hires a specialized vessel with an entire crew from the vessel owner or the shipping company. Even though this is an established method considered relatively reliable in comparison to human divers, there is a growing need for more versatile, efficient, and economical IMR methods. Innovations that require no or less use of support vessels are mitigating this challenge. The current ROV classifications do not adapt to these innovations. Hence, the lack of a widely accepted ROV classification. Thus, this paper reviews ROV classifications and proposes a classification that poses no hindrance to innovation and conforms to modern developments. The paper then illustrates and reviews the emerging methods of conducting IMR operations by putting together in a concise, yet resourceful manner the ROV technologies and their various configurations to provide a basic meaningful understanding to the audience. This paper also provides a summary of the comparison of the methods and some of their challenges.

This article proposes an industry-specific set of modifying factors for managing mineral resources and reserves for construction aggregates. To gain insights into the regional characteristics of the aggregate market and the requirement of situating mining operations close to urban centers, an application example was developed. It considers the two largest urban concentrations in Brazil to present findings on how the supply and demand of sand and crushed stone occurs in these regions and their relationship with the management of mineral resources and reserves. Furthermore, a conceptual simulation was conducted to showcase how limitations on mining areas can influence the conversion of mineral resources into aggregate mineral reserves. This simulation took into account different scenarios of environmental and social restrictions, which were identified as the primary bottlenecks in the quarries. The findings of the research highlighted the increasing significance of governmental and ESG-related modifying factors in aligning aggregates extraction activities co-existing with other land use in the vicinity. Finally, this article proposes a new indicator for classifying mineral reserves in this sector.