DIY underwater drone

[Efisio]

Is a drone controlled with a tether cable complicated to build?

Just wondering if I should start this DIY project instead to buy a 3k euro commercial product.

I didn't find a good one surfing on the web. Any insight?


It's all about 4 propellers :-) .... how to submerge? Now you understand why I choose this area of the forum :-D

[JHapprich]

Maybe try something easier first? Try getting a thundertiger neptune, building a Robbe Seawolf, search the Nautilus Drydocks for beginners kits. Build a 3d-printed surface runner.

What is your modelling background?

Any experience building rc models?

Building a sub - any rc sub - to working condition is time-and money-consuming.

Jörg

[rwtdiver]

Maybe try something easier first? Try getting a thundertiger neptune, building a Robbe Seawolf, search the Nautilus Drydocks for beginners kits. Build a 3d-printed surface runner.

What is your modelling background?

Any experience building rc models?

Building a sub - any rc sub - to working condition is time-and money-consuming.

Jörg

Efisio,

Jorg is absolutely right! Especially if you are just getting started in this hobby of building a submarine. Take his advice and start out SIMPLE.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

[cheapsub]

Buy vs build?

buy:
time, in the water as soon as you get it.
good luck ship it back for service.

You may have to ship it back to China.

Build:
Need skills and a work shop. May end up with more money.

Something to looks in to, Google or YouTube "open rov"
and many others will pop up.

I think they end up with a buy system.

Some video,

https://youtu.be/kcnZZp1RTbA?si=D_-auWtmXcse-OQn

Freshwater vs salt water.


freshwater , water get inside the rov still serviceable.

Salt water, buy a new one.

[Efisio]

Thanks a lot for all comments.
I do not have any experience in RC world and that's for sure the biggest obstacle. On the other hand, I'm familiar with 3d printing, machining, basic electronics, coding :-).
By the way, I should start simple and easy ... especially because googling this topic during the last 4 days I've realized that the ROV is a cocktail of several small subsystems that I can test piece by piece.
- Flight controller
- Video handling (real-time streaming with very low latency and good quality)
- long distance cable transmission for commands and video
- Controller

...this is really a lot of work and at least 500 euro only the electronics + batteries...

Here is what I have considered at the moment as first instance.




Main concern ...
- no idea how to set the flight controller over the 6 motors (with ardupilot or betaflight)
- worried for the Python code to send commands get back telemetry

If you see a macro mistake on the scheme, I'll appreciate any comment

[TuptubBuilder]

You may want to check out "bluerobotics.com". I have purchased parts from them in the past but never attempted to build an ROV. They have a LEARN section that you might find useful.

[Efisio]

TuptubBuilder, thanks for suggestion. bluerobotics.com looks very specialized place for my purpose.
At the moment I'm still evaluating the architecture before to take a direction.

...considering to downgrade the electronic, kill the raspberry and turn into Arduino base and RS485 ... but then I have the problem of the video transmission...

[redboat219]

[Efisio]

redboat219 , thanks for sharing ... I like the channel of this guy, he's playing with several interesting water toys...
- weird to see that DC motors doesn't suffer the water ... especially salt water!
- PVC pipe should be a cheap potential replacement to expensive acrylic tube; maybe I can test the resistance to external pressure by adding internal stiffening.
- I still have doubts regarding the video! ... He is using a normal PAL/NTFS output but I think it should work only for few meters over the UTP CAT5 cable. I've started to procure an extender :-) ...

[JHapprich]

Romel ! that would be a realistic project to start with...

[redboat219]

[JHapprich]

Another great video, Redboat! Cought my attention!

[Efisio]

It's all about expectation and budget, I think it's very nice to share experiences trough these videos...

For the tether I considered the LAN protocol to have only one cable, otherwise it'll be difficult to bundle 50 or more meters of cable.
Still convinced to keep CAT5 but I'm more oriented to RS485 rather than LAN because of costa and time for the software.

[redboat219]

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