Originally published at: 3rd Annual(ish) Product Interest Survey + Previous Year's Results - Blue Robotics
In the past we’ve asked all of our customers and followers to complete a “product interest survey” to help guide our future plans. We’re doing it again this year to learn about your current interests, desires, and feedback. If you have a moment, please take our 3rd Annual Product Interest Survey and let us know what you want. It really matters to us and it actually affects what we work on next.
We've always tried to keep these surveys short, but this year's is a little longer because we have so much to ask about! Because we want to motivate you to give the best possible feedback, we'll be giving away four $250 Blue Robotics Store Credits to a few lucky respondents!
Take the 3rd Annual Product Interest Survey!
Just like last time and in our continued spirit of being an open and transparent company, we want to share some of the results from the last survey in 2016 and show you how we used that info! Continue reading if you're interested!
Vehicle Type
The first question asked about vehicle type, and we again got an overwhelming response for ROVs. However, there was a big jump in interest in AUVs and USVs.
Applications
The results for applications look very similar for 2016 compared with 2015. We saw a bit of a shift with more people using our products for professional applications like inspections and a smaller percentage of the responses going to "robotics competitions". Lots of people were interested in photography and exploration as well, similar to the first survey.
Depth Rating
This one is particularly interesting and shows that people's interests and expectations for the products are increasing. In the first survey, most people were interested in 25-100m and the spread was very even on either side of that depth. However, in this survey, the results shifted noticeably deeper with a significant number of people interested in 100-1000 meter depths.
Mechanical Components, ROV Accessories, and ROV Features
This chart is the result of a few questions but summarizes the interest in various components and features for the BlueROV2 and for standalone components. We addressed a good number of these including the leak detection, larger enclosures, payload skid, and increased depth capability. We also launched the Newton Gripper, which includes a linear actuator that may be sold separately in the future.
You'll obviously notice that there's a lot of things we haven't addressed yet like underwater connectors, power through tether, and underwater servos. Honestly, we're disappointed that we don't have these products yet too, but it's not from lack of trying! There are quite a few things on this list, including these, that have been in active development for months or years but we're just not satisfied with our results yet. I'm sure these items will stand out strongly on the new survey as well and we'll double down on making them happen!
The one that surprised us on here is the "Fully-assembled BlueROV2 Option", which we expected to see very highly, but ended up as one of the least popular responses!
Sonars and Other Acoustic Devices
In the 2016 survey, we separated sonars from other sensors and components to gauge interest. At the time, we had almost zero experience with sonar devices and you'll see this question has evolved a lot on the newest survey. The winners here are altimeters, 2d imaging sonars, and positioning systems. We've had the Water Linked Underwater GPS available for over a year now and it's been very successful with the BlueROV2. We've also tested a number of 2D imaging sonars and shared the results, but we haven't announced an officially supported option.
We hope this information is informative, interesting, and gives you some ideas about what else we might have been working on! Please take a chance to answer this year's survey!