That’s right AUV not ROV. Autonomous Underwater Vehicle not Remote-controlled Underwater Vehicle. After careful examination of designs and materials our group has decided to remain true to our original idea and create un untethered vehicle, hence the change in name. We made this decision after spending some time doing additional research and revisiting our original goals. AUV’s while technically more challenging have much more freedom. And two members of our team are considering doing one for a cumulative project and believe this to be a better option on that front as well.
As luck would have it, MIT – who gave us our SeaPerch model also has a very interesting AUV program. The one we researched for this week is called the Sea Odyssey IV. Below is link to the Odyssey in action.
- Sea Odyssey
Check it out in action – in a not entirely successful test run!
After carefully going through the diagram above and watching several video I crossed-referenced the parts lists and came to the conclusion that physical construction of the new design was too challenging so I started looking for a viable parts source. I came across a great web site called RC-Sub. It is run by a guy named Bob Martin. I reached out to him with some questions that the team is having about ballast and thrusters. We want to make sure that we have the right balance between the two. The more I learn the more we realize how important this is.
We like the idea of housing everything in one unit
Entire Mechanism
and believe that it will be easier to control. I am responsible for narrowing down the list of sources for thrusters, which we now know will be pirated from an already operational device.
