SeaMouse ROV (2002)
I have been much enamoured with small, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for undersea exploring for a long time. Couple this with a bad habit of saying to myself, "Someone had to build the first one of those, and my technology is at least as good as theirs" (this usually happens when I am looking at something like the first light bulb or the Wright Flyer). As it turns out, I did the same thing when I started paying close attention to the ROVs used to look at shipwrecks and such.
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For a long time, most everything has been just a bunch of scratch paper in
a bunch of folders under a bunch of physics books. :-) But I recently
acquired one of the finest books for the amateur
oceanographer I have ever seen:
Build Your Own Underwater Robot
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The book is targeted at the middle school level, but I think it is perfect for the weekend hobbyist. The best part of it (for me) are the COMPLETE PLANS for two ROVs. These provide a great starting point to learn the ropes of building your own ROV, and should give me the experience I need to build the more complicated one I have always had in mind.
SeaMouse is my first ROV endeavour, more or less following the Bohm and Jensen plans for their SeaPerch.
SeaMouse Construction
ROV DESIGNATION: SeaMouseDRY MASS: *** kg
BUOYANCY: Positive
POWER: 12V DC, Vector
VEC019AC Rechargable Power Supply
PROPULSION: 3 propellor thrusters (reversible) -- starboard, port, vertical
INSTRUMENTATION: None
Construction Gallery
Water Trials Gallery
I more or less followed the plans as outlined in the Bohm and Jensen book, with several modifications to suit the materials I could find for the project, described below.
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Page Maintained by: Shane L. Larson Email: Last Updated: 15 August 2005 |