Essentially I have always been a rover type of guy. Im now building a second robot to learn autonomous behavior but its just not enough!
For a long time I have had an idea of building a robotic submarine that could be used for police, military and coatguard applications as well as for researching, and oceanography. So I came up with this: MS Coastguard, a small, lightweight and affordable submersable that would be radio controlled from a boat or from land. The first prototype that I build will most likely be my new science fair project for next year, once the Spy 2 completes its rounds in the fair, (wednesday and sometime in april in Nova Scotia if I make it ) I will control it with a Hitek radio controller for now, but if I plan to make it practical i may want to go with something with much more range and reliability later on (Research for that will be done later, so lets not focus on that).
I will have specs and drawings up as soon as possible. If I do plan on going through with this project, right now im just trying to get an idea of what I will need (most of it is already figured out so dont worry). I just want to know what you guys think about this project and if you think it is practical. I know im only 15 but I have BIG ideas for these types of applications (What the Spy 2 does ). This essentially will be a “brother” of the Spy 2 as I have a dream to one day have an elite of robots controlling Land, Air and Sea (dont worry im not going to take over the world, this is strictly for the good of mankind).
“Wireless” submarines have their own issues. A tethered submarine would be some what easier to build (but “easy” is a relative term). I think you will find it is far more complex than you realize.
I understand that this will be complicated which is why I put it on hold a while back, but you havent given me details as to why it would be complicated (from your point of view). I realize what you say is true, but you havent said why.
This is a simple drawing on what I am planning to do. Its an easy aerodynamic body. I will be making it from molding a plastic body, but I need information on how to do this, how much it will cost and what kind of materials I will need. I may go with another route though, by finding someone that can do this sort of thing.
SPECS:
The propulsion system will consist of one main engine and two directional boosters on either side (this may change to jsut two boosters with no main engine). These boosters will be controlled by a servo to allow the engines to point up and allow the sub to dive down, or point down to propel the sub to the surface. It will term by “skid steering”. The kind used on the 4wd rover. A simple scorpion should be a good controller as I have one a few at my disposal.
LED lights will line the haul to aluminate the surrounding water and sea bed.
Two cameras (1.2 and 2.4GHZ) will be onboard. One for navigation and one directed to the sea floor.
The motors I will be using will be brushless motors with propellers. I need to find inexpensive motors with propellers that will fit onto the motors or I may buy a small remote control boat of some sort and hack it.
Radio control will be provided by a hitek laser 4 at present but i may decide to upgrade this in the future, though the camera’s only get 100ft of operating range anyhow so this may not be a practical idea.
The purpose of this project will be to create this type of bot for the applications listed below while maintaining a low cost of materials and long hours of work I have a friend with a pool (my neighboor) so this will be my testing lab.
What equipment do you actually have on hand to experiment with? Water will tend to absorb RF, so that will be one issue. Another issue would be dealing with external pressure if you plan to go to any depth. Better to understand the issues up front so you won’t waste too much time on issues that might be outside what you can deal with. If you have the wireless cams, seal one up and lower it to the bottom of the pool to see if you can still get a picture from it.
yea that is one major problem with the suberines, most of them only 5-6 feet deep before they lose signal, also, id try and get a pumpp that could provide a ballast system if u want to go under at all, im assuming this will be close to the size of a 2 liter soda bottle, am i right? and if u was to try and get that under ull definatley need balast to achieve neutral boyancy
i mean u could just fill it up with some water t first and let it go, but with different environments and stuff u may want to adjust it to avoid weeds at different heights etc.
Ok now this is making sense. I have the cam’s and the controller right now and the scorpion (needs to be fixed).
I’ll do experients in a couple weeks when my sciencefair project is over with. Also, yeah, getting this thing to submerge will be difficult, im not sure how I can control the submerging.
This is a much better design and a lot simpler. What I have added is a simple square body connected to a PVC pontune system. Because the PVC is light and full of air, it will make the robot float. The robot will be attached underneith this system so it is under water.
Much more like an ROV but without diving. The whole purpose of the bot is to just skim the ocean floor with a camer to see whats down there.
I was thinking that, but keeping the boat flat and mostly underwater will allow it to over come waves and bad weather, as well as keep a stealthy attitude.
if u really want to go crazy u could hook some sort of winch system up and have the submersable be able to go to different depths while keeping the anntenna above the water and be able to go down 4-5 feet
Thats another possibility as well. I think this is a good design and im ready to start thinking of what type of motors and blades to use. They have to be cheap to keep cost down. Ill google it…
Those are a little…really out of my budget. I need this to be low cost if and practical for this project to be a success. Im looking for brushles motors with really long shafts that I can attach propellers to for thrust (boat propelers).
How big do you want the props to be? How much power do you need? What voltage would you need them to work at?
I can look around for ya later.
When I looked at your last drawing with the PVC floating thing… I thought to myself that it would be cool to have the sub disconnect from the floaty thing and dive under by itself. Then come back to the surface and find the floaty thing. Maybe have the floaty thing have controls too so they can meet up.
lol, the purpose of the PVC is to keep the bot afloat so no complicated pump or ballast systems need to be used as well as to keep the robot at a good level and move with the water. It allows me to keep the bot from going under too far so that I dont loose radio signal as zoomkat says water absorbes it pretty good.
I bassically want it to move at a good rate, its going to be in a racing competition so lets not think about going that fast. It should have a voltage like 12-15v. It should have brushless motors with LONG shafts, like 5 inches or so and good propellers for propulsion.
Its going to have lights (both LED and incandescent) and cameras on it (which I have).
If you want it to be at the surface, then why a complicated, ugly, dragging PVC system? Why not just make a compartment in the unit, and fill the top half with air… It would stay afloat by itself. Youl get more speed out of it because there won’t be a gigantic rectangle on top of it dragging it down.
At least make the head of it like a V to blow through the water better
And, if you want a good radio signal, extend the antenna above water level a few good inches.
) I will control it with a Hitek radio controller for now, but if I plan to make it practical i may want to go with something with much more range and reliability later on (Research for that will be done later, so lets not focus on that).
). This essentially will be a “brother” of the Spy 2 as I have a dream to one day have an elite of robots controlling Land, Air and Sea (dont worry im not going to take over the world, this is strictly for the good of mankind).
I have a friend with a pool (my neighboor) so this will be my testing lab. 
lol, I am deffinately making it more aerodynamic so dont worry about that 