Swap Out Computer and Tether

Blue Robotics Vehicles Modifications
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  1. Would it be possible to switch out the Raspberry Pi 3 for an Intel NUC Board (NUC7I7DNBE)? Would is mess up any systems or would it simply not fit inside the acrylic tube? We are trying to run some light Solidworks and/or Autodesk Inventor on the computer, and the Raspberry Pi 3 won’t be able to do that?

  2. Would it be possible to supply our own tether (i.e. Use this cable)? The tether that BlueRobotics supplies is very expensive, and using this cable would be alot cheaper.

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In regards to cable, that one you list is solid copper and won’t last very long with all the flexing. You need a stranded cable. Plus, off the shelf ethernet cable won’t have strength members or water blocking, so it would pretty much be a disposable option, and you’d have to keep a spare on hand to swap out when it eventually fails.

Keep in mind that unless you need additional pairs, you only need two wires (not ethernet), and they can essentially be any configuration. You can use coax if you find something suitable, or basic twisted hook up wire if you don’t need anything robust. I won’t post here out of respect for BR, but if you look around you can find other options.

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The software running on the Pi only has support for the Pi hardware right now. When we support other computers it will always be linux only, no windows.

Why do you want to run CAD on your ROV???

Like @spotxuv pointed out, you can use other cables, but you need to be mindful of how durable they might be. The BR tether is designed for real-world practical use.

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We are thinking of using that computer as a CAD computer for mods to the ROV. We are thinking of modding the ROV to use for the RoboSub competition. This is our first year, and we don’t have enough funding to CNC our own base. We are going to use most of our budget this year on the BlueROV2 and then mod it to our needs.

Thanks,
–Tarun Prakash