Rusty has responded to a chunk of this here
In addition,
That’s quite a relative term. Oil rigs (and presumably military uses) can go significantly deeper than even the highest rated products we provide, and the low-volume top end of the market is not something we aim to directly be part of.
Amateur builders and hobbyists are definitely still one of our target markets, and form the basis of and inlet to this awesome community that we’re working to foster.
That said, things are definitely getting more expensive (from materials, to logistics, to people). As we (as a company) and the general marine robotics community mature there are also higher expectations for robustness and consistency, which we need to meet both to maintain trust in our company, and to continue enabling the future of marine exploration (which is our mission).
To achieve that we’re dedicating significant research and design efforts to reducing costs and improving functionalities, but that unfortunately doesn’t grant us immunity to the rising tide of costs worldwide - it’s rather the tools we use to try to keep that tide at bay.