Hello Everyone!
Over the summer I was lucky enough to get an internship at BlueRobotics and wanted to share with you exactly what I was working on - an affordable, tether-less dropcam (robotic camera) that can descent to 1000+ m. I go over most of the general construction details in the video below but if you have any specific questions, please leave a comment or message me!
Here is an additional, unedited 360 video from the dropcam ( + squid at 2:30 ):
~standing ovation~
~slow clap~
Ivan… Amazing work mate. Well done sir.
I have been looking at doing something very similar myself, and you have done a great job designing this and presenting your findings. Great job mate.
Matt
Thanks Matt!
Very cool! We’re interested in attaching a 360 camera to the top of the BlueROV and there are almost no consumer product that can really go past 30m, is there any chance that the parts for the camera housing will be made more widely available?
Hi Vincent - Glad to know you’re interested. We would definitely make the parts available if there was enough interest! There are a few complications, the main one being that the camera overheats quickly in there. We solved that by adding two small fans to circulate air and increase convective heat transfer, but those have to be externally powered.
Are you okay with the Gear360 camera? Do you need full spherical view or would you be okay with 180 degrees?
-Rusty
Very cool! This fits right in with some of my current projects, and has definitely given me some ideas.
I’d also love to see the custom parts come to the Blue Robotics store. A 360 camera - though very cool - isn’t necessary for my projects. So I can do without it if that’s a sticking point.
I’d also be curious about a magnetic release instead of the burn-wire, as an extra failsafe. If something happens to the electronics, the wire might not burn but a magnet will still release.
Hello Vincent! As Rustom already said, there are some overheating problems that need external power in the current setup but in early prototypes, we used a small battery to power the fans so if you really needed to, you could do the same. The only issue was that it lasted for only 1 or 2 dives. In regards to mounting, I have started making some 3D-printed top and bottom mounts for the BlueROV 2 (one that goes on right above the rear of the electronics tube and the other one under the left skid) which I can share with you should you need them.
Hello Alex! Before making the current burn-wire mechanism, I actually experimented with using a dissolving PVA release. It turned out to be too unpredictable so it led me to find a device called a galvanic release (Galvanic Timed Releases for Researchers • International Fishing Devices) which essentially corrodes away after a set amount of time. Although the magnetic release is definitely something I am interested in researching more about, in the meantime you could use the burn-wire in conjunction with a galvanic release to have that additional fail-safe!