The Nanoseeker is a compact underwater vehicle in a torpedo-like form factor. [John] designed the Nanoseeker as completely enclosed vehicle: both the thruster and the control fins are all housed within the diameter of the tube. The thruster is ducted with vents on the sides and control fins integrated into the back of the duct assembly.
[John] designed a compact PCB to drive the vehicle, which includes an STM32F4 alongside several sensors. An MPU-9150 provides IMU functionality and two dual motor driver ICs from TI control the throttle and the control fins. [John] also added a Bluetooth radio for remote control functionality. For those who want a closer look, an image of the schematic is up on his blog.
The board is running MicroPython, which is a small Python implementation optimized for microcontrollers. Although [John]’s hardware platform looks great, he’s still getting started on his software. We look forward to seeing how his project develops, as his project is one of the smallest underwater vehicles we’ve seen.
[via Dangerous Prototypes]
Does Bluetooth work underwater?
No, it doesn’t. The bluetooth is there so I can communicate with the sub while it is on the bench, and sealed up (like between missions or whatever).
Does it vibrate too?
this made me lol!
OMFG i thought the same thing! lmfao… Wow High tech dildos are coming! (cumming?) lol
Arduino + Dildo = HMMM
Dilduino? Ardildo Arduildo? Ardildo? Arduildo? None exactly roll off the tongue.
I like dilduino personally lol
The Dilduino has already been made
When I saw it on DP, they called it nanoseeker, I assumed it was a nose cone for a small missile.
At best BT will only work for a few feet – radio waves of almost any type do not penetrate underwater very far, which is why most ROVs use a wire or fibre optic tether. There have been some recent developments in acoustic / light wireless data transmission but they are very experimental.
I think sending data through sound is the best choice for underwater (other than tethered), since sound travels fast in water. Noise would be a problem, as well as operating a few simultaneously.
For short range underwater communication, a laser (or perhaps just a light source) might be a good choice.
Might I shine some light on this. There is quite a large portion of spectrum that penetrates water just fine, even for hundreds of miles (ELF, tis how subs communicate). There is even frequencies that can go farther, but no one has used it for anything yet. Bluetooth does not use those frequencies. It uses an unlicensed public spectrum that is unlicensed and public not because it was a nice thing to do, but because it is absorbed by water molecules and nobody figured a way to profit from it at the time. I am curious to see how much penetration it has (no pun intended). It probably is not more than one wavelength.
US submarines no longer use ELF, the facility was closed down in 2004 according to Wikipedia. Not sure if the Russians ZEV transmitter is still going.
To the best of my knowledge the russians have stopped using it too. I do believe indian navy uses it currently though. I wonder if you could use subwavelength antennas (metamaterial antennas) to get bidirectional communication going.
US subs still use floating VLF long lines. When they put to sea you can see them coiled up on the stern of sub just behind the aft hatch. Supposedly there’s a third one in the sail but I’ve never been close enough to see it.
I wonder if and how it will control buoyancy?
Being able to resurface to recharge via solar cell or obtain a GPS fix could make an interesting UAV
Wouldn’t that be a UUV?
It would be but I was distracted while typing my post and there’s no edit!!
Unmanned Aquatic Vehicle. UAV.
Underwater/unmanned autonomous vehicle?
AUV – autonomous underwater vehicle
ROV – remotely operated vehicle
UUV – unmanned underwater vehicle (includes both AUVs and ROVs)
UAV – unmanned aerial vehicle
NanoSeeker is a dynamic diver – it will be slightly positively buoyant, and will dive by moving forwards and using the dive plane control.
Ah, that makes a bit more sense now!
It’s a cool project btw
screw + step motor + diaphragm or piston (e.g. syringe)
Are the end pieces 3D printed? I’ve had some bad experiences expecting extrusion printed pieces to be water tight(they weren’t even submerged just in a very wet environment). I came up with a solution to sealing them perfectly. Plastidip. I don’t know how well it would work in this situation though.
If it’s ABS, lots has been done with Acetone that would probably seal it as well.
The end pieces are indeed 3D printed, on a Dimension Mojo printer. The material is basically ABS, and I will be trying different things in terms of sealing. The old version didn’t use anything, and it only leaked a few drops after being submerged in a pool for a couple minutes (http://blog.huv.com/2009/10/nanoseeker-update.html)
That’s very nice work. Generally, is it easier to seal against linear motion or rotating shafts?
It doesn’t make a lot of difference. Rotation is sealed with either an o-ring (like I’m using here) or a more complex seal. Linear motion is typically handled with a seal, but in this case I’m just using a brass tube with a greased brass rod sliding in it.
Lovely build.
Wonder how much the water effects bluetooth range
Bluetooth doesn’t work at all under water. As I’ve mentioned before, the bluetooth module is there so I can communicate with the vehicle while it is on the bench, without having to open it up. Things like pulling the log, pushing new scripts, starting a new mission, etc.
My wife has one of these
Lmao..
Beautiful work. This has all kinds of application potential for everything from fish farms and large scale aquaponics, to point inspection on ship hulls, to point cloud data sampling in large bodies of water. The US Coast Guard Research and Development Center would probably snap this up in a heart beat once you get a third or fourth gen prototype up and running, hell maybe after this one. It’s perfect for ice operations where the current is mild enough. Oil companies would certainly use a larger version for checking their rigs and anchors.