ROVing Otter
A web-controlled UNDERWATER ROBOT for ocean education and research
PROGRESS LOG for NOVEMBER 2005
14 Nov 2005:
Today the Electronics Class took ROVing Otter down to the CSUMB swimming pool for a dive to see how well the upgrades work and to collect some basic performance data.
One of the upgrades was a change to the vertical thruster controls to allow fine (1%) changes to the vertical thrust setting, thereby improving fine-tuning of the neutral buoyancy trim.
The other big change was a new camera tilt feature added by Jason and Russ. This allows the camera angle to be tilted from straight ahead to down about 30 degrees, so you can see the bottom coming up or look more closely at the surface the ROV is sitting on.
After re-adjusting the buoyancy for fresh water, the class powered up the ROV and quickly discovered that somebody (who shall remain nameless) had reversed the wires on one of the horizontal thruster motors during the reassembly process. The resulted in some very bizarre ROV behavior, but the class was able to reprogram their own brains to compensate for the error (Fortunately, it was still possible to achieve all ROV functions, just not in the usual way.)
The class tested their piloting skills and had some fun at the same time by trying to pursue (and get dramatic camera views of) a 10" long, remote-controlled, toy Great White Shark, which Bob brought to class and threw in the pool.
The class also collected some basic performance data:
Note: Battery voltage was at about 12.0V during these tests.
This is less impressive than hoped for, but still adequate for exploring tennis-court sized areas of the seafloor in relatively calm conditions. It's worth noting that several small, commercial ROVs selling for $20,000 - $45,000 only go about 1.5 feet per second (less than 3X faster), so maybe this isn't so bad after all.
Click here to see the progress log for April 2006 (no logs Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar).