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Cold. Heheh. The only welding rods I had in my hands way back where those used in small time brazing... I did in my home shop and with my bro with a arc welder to fix my fire place grid. LOL.
On a serious note. I noticed some post by you also in the past few weeks where you entered some very reasonable statements. Due to the often short times I post and work schedules I did not back you up.
As for the 3D camera question. I am sure it could help the operators in their daily manipulation of the ROVs. A note if I may. As I have watched over the past few months the many ROV activities. In my case at least, I seem to be able to calculate how many inches for instance the end of a ROV hand finger may be away from some restricted area say where they are trying to push a small cigar size pressure sensor or other thing into a panel hole, etc..
It is like the more one carefully watches the many functions being performed by these ROVs' over time they train their eyes to sense just where the arms, and fingers of the robots are honing into etc..
I fully agree with you that if they do not at present have multi-views as the bots do their work it would be a blessing to them and cut down on many hours per day for the routine things these bots are doing. And of course cause less frustration amoung the ROV operators.
A last note. I wonder if sometimes they are just practicing their trade. Which I don't have a problem with. Hone ones skills so they don't FU when critical connections in hard places is required.
Lets consider this however. How much more the probablity of two close working ROVs exists to provide at three dimensional view in often tight quarters, to perhaps cause an accident between the two ROVs or damage equipment they are working on in very tight quarters. I watched tonight as a ROV using it's two hands carefully had to insert a rather small object (about the size of a cigar...perhaps some kind of release valve) into a small opening in one of the lower BOP's control panels. It took probably five minutes or so to finally insert the object into the panel control, where inches away there was a open cage containing cylinders looking to be about two or three inches in diameter and some two feet long. The cage was getting in the way, so that the bot hand could not properly line up above the hole in the control panel to insert the cigar object.... maybe it was a Havana Cigar disguised as some pressure relieve valve....
In that case. If another ROV was ninety degrees to the right centered on the control panel area, it would not have helped the main bot's arm from zeroing on the Z axis to insert the cigar shaped object. The bot's hand had to place the Havana Cigar into the other hand of the bot momentarily until it could move the cage backward a bit, then transfer the cigar back to the right bot's hand then insert it into the hole in the panel.
So perhaps in some cases your good suggestion simply would not apply. But it is noteworthy. And perhaps in the future shall be a standard procedure.
Why not provide side cameras on flexible arms to accomplish what you suggested.
Bottom line. I appreciate your observances regarding 3D camera operations.

Thanks for the words.

Yeah, I have noticed a good bit of "on the job training" going on with some operators. I am sure operating these things 24/7 has caused a bit of a personnel issue with experienced people.

One thing to note, these ROVs are huge machines. I have seen them work in tandem but they do it across from each other and I am sure they do it to share the views from the cameras to determine positions of tools etc. It gives them at least a better sense of depth. A stereo camera would not have any effect on the bots size or maneuverability. Its just two cameras rather that one that operate in tandem. The two camera views are from different angles and they are rendered by a computer to form a picture that has depth as well as the the two other dimensions of length and width. You would likely benefit by wearing video goggles or glasses as opposed to a screen, but they have recently started marketing 3-D screens as well. With this feature, they would not miss the cigar sized hole unless the ROV moved due to currents. Rather that ten attempts, they could do it it two. That is what I saw anyway...

Yes, I was getting pretty good with those seagulls. I hate to kill something that I don't eat however so I stopped doing it.:-)