Aloha to all!
After years in the making, I am excited to share the first complete version of my coral reef monitoring ROV system, “Cnidaria.” Her base operating system is a BlueROV2, but she is also equipped with a wide-range of specialized functionalities that enable to her to assist scientists for many use-cases in the field.
As of version 1.0, these functionalities include: a custom and entirely standalone real-time computer vision system for coral species classification; conductivity (& salinity), temperature, and depth sensors and telemetry data logging; a custom triple-shot water sampling system, capturing 250ml per canister; doppler velocity log navigation aid to be used for dead reckoning and position hold; photogrammetry surveying; both an augmented reality and a custom multi-display GCS interface; and a hot-swappable power supply.
I hope Cnidaria can be used by local organizations in support of their missions regarding the monitoring of coral reefs and coastal marine areas. For free or otherwise.
If you’d like to see her in action, check out this video I put together to capture and celebrate this great milestone of my project:
If you’d like to learn more and follow along on the journey, check out @zoatek_4rseas on Instagram.
