Control board options - pros and cons?

Build DIY ROVs
1

I am currently in the process of designing an ROV and will be using either the Blue Robotics, Open ROV, or simply arduino + video cable.

Can anyone point me to a place where I can find the pros and cons of the Open ROV vs the Blue Robotics control board options?

I plan to have

1 camera with the ability to record video
2 Fwd/ Rear Thrusters
1 Up/Down Thruster
1 Side to side Thruster (Maybe)

2 led light rows. 1 row being “normal”, the second being able to turn on as required

1 robot arm with OPEN / CLOSE, Rotate CW/CCW

Ideally I’d like to simply have a monitor, controller and circuit cards topside and not require a computer / laptop in addition to this to run the ROV.

If anybody can make any recommendations, point to a wiring chart, explain why 1 is better than the other I would be very interested. I’ve been doing a lot of reading so far, but I’m still confused as I’m not really an electrical guy.

2

The openrov setup can handle 3 thrusters The Bluerobotics setup can handle 6 or even 8. They both can handle lighting about the same. Openrov has the laser control module. There is a 4k openrov camera, the Bluerobotics advanced option is 1080p. Programming, sensor options, on screen controls, use of joystick etc is comparable between the two.

3

@Togas,

The OROV 2.8 Controller Board can only handle 20 amps continuous and 32 amps peak for a brief period. It is really designed for the DST-700 brushless motor which has a max current consumption of 7 amps. There have been some OROV members who have run more than three Thrusters and some have run six of the T100 Thrusters. However due to the Controller Board’s current handling limitations, you cannot make use of the full potential of the T100 Thrusters.

I have built a Hybrid ROV using BR T100 Thrusters and an OROV 2.8 Controller Board.

I believe that the OROV Pro Camera-HD is not 4k. Taken from the OROV Store Website for the Pro Camera-HD: “1080p live video stream at 30 frames per second”

Regards,
TCIII AVD

4

This is what the OpenROV Engineer Brian said about the new HD camera on OROV forum:

Camera is shooting at 1080p.
This is the same camera that is on Trident. For most users 1080p video quality is great and allows for much smaller file sizes and transmission of data up the tether and to the control device for piloting the ROV. With Trident (and 2-series) users controlling with laptops, tablets, and cell phones the majority of these do not display 4K.

5

I stand corrected. I thought the store said it was 4k last I looked, but it appears I am mistaken.

6

With either set up I can record video with out issue?

If I were to do just an Ardunio Mega and run video on it’s own cable to surface would this work just as well?

Thank you again for your help.

7

@Togas,
You are still going to need a shield for the Arduino Mega to control the motors and lights. The Arduino Mega Shield on the OROV 2.8 Controller Board is a custom shield though there have been some people who have tried to adapt the OROV controller code to an Arduino Mega/Shield.
The latest Developer version of the OROV Cockpit (31.0.0-RC4) has a built-in recording feature unlike the stable release that requires a separate video recorder like VLC.
Regards,
TCIII AVD

8

I am using two raspberry pis hooked up over Ethernet cable communicating with MQTT. The one on the ROV has a adafruit servo shield to control the escs and servos. I am planning on using a fathom s board to send video.