Building a turtle drone

[runchman (john runchey)]

I live on a lake with a bunch of turtles, baby ducks, geese, snakes, etc. I’m designing and building an underwater drone that will look like a turtle, with a camera on a neck that can be lifted above the water surface, and can look left and right. The idea being I can swim alongside say some baby ducks and get nice close-up video.

The water will be ducted thru the shell, so no props will be visible.

All being done in fusion 360, which I am climbing the steep learning curve of working with surface modelling.

Progress so far, have props and mounts 3d printed

more pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/N9zhctnvQzmUJt8V6

[EliotBR (Eliot)]

Hi @runchman, welcome to the forum!

@runchman

I live on a lake with a bunch of turtles, baby ducks, geese, snakes, etc. I’m designing and building an underwater drone that will look like a turtle, with a camera on a neck that can be lifted above the water surface, and can look left and right. The idea being I can swim alongside say some baby ducks and get nice close-up video.

What a cool project idea - I’m keen to see how this develops!

@runchman

more pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/N9zhctnvQzmUJt8V6

Looking great so far - thanks for sharing

I’ve bumped up your forum trust level, so you can share more images here directly (with the added benefit of stripping out the metadata).

[runchman (john runchey)]

Some more pics, been fusion 360 designing carriers for the parts inside the water-tight tube.