There have been many requests for both the DIY and the commercial ROV. I am happy to see this really lives with a lot people around the globe. Due to some limitations and restrictions regarding import and export is currently not possible to ship the commercial ROV the USA. However we are interested in dealers from the USA as well as other regions.

Submit your requests to tony@tkdomain.be for more info.

For those people who are really interested in an ROV but don't have the time or means to build one, there is an interesting commercial alternative. A friend of mine builds commercial mini ROVs at very affordable prices. There are currently 3 models available : 50-70 meters range, 150 meters range and 150 meter range with 600 meters of cable. If you are interested, just drop me an email : tony@tkdomain.be

Some pictures of this ROV :

Website : http://www.rovbuilder.com

Here are some pictures of the new ROV hull assembled :

Tonight I painted all the metal parts and the ROV frame. They first were cleaned and then received a primer coating (black matte) followed by a "hammered" metal look :

The paint will not only make the ROV look good  :-) but also protect the aluminum against corrosion.

In the ROV we find the HOST controller, the motor controller and the power supply unit.

The motor controller and HOST controller are mounted on a board :

Left : Motor Control, Right HOST module in test

The hull is composed of a frame, two tubes that take care of flotation and are used to house the electronics, thrusters, lights, laser ...

The different phases of constructing the basic hull structure are shown here

Drilling holes ....

Some parts ...

View from the front ...

and from the back ..

With thruster and light ...

Luc and Roland admiring their work !

After having been absent (at leat on this blog) for a while here's some new posts ! It is not that I haven't been busy with ROVs ... I made a complete new design and this took some time !

The ideas behind the concept were :

• Use existing materials wherever possible
• Use standard components
• Highly modular and extensible
• Affordable

After the first experiments with MCU's (Conrad) I decided to go for more standard and more powerfull devices. The final choice I have made here is the ATMEL's ATMEGA16 processor. It has enough ports of the right type, it is widely used, it is inexpensive and it exists in DIL format. I do not like SMD chips too much for this type of application because they are very sensitive and difficult to handle in repair situations (eg in the field)

Components

There are two modules, HOST and REMOTE. The HOST module resides in the ROV and does all the steering, measuring etc ... The REMOTE unit sits above water and is used to control the ROV.

The HOST module contains :

• ATMEGA16 MCU
• Compass
• Depth Sensor
• Dual H-Bridge circuits for thrusters and lights
• Temperature sensors
• Humidity sensors
• Video Overlay
• RS485 Interface
• PSU (Power Supply Unit)
• Camera with TILT function

The REMOTE module contains :

• ATMEGA16 MCU
• PSX (Playstation) Joystick
• RTC (Real Time Clock)
• PSU
• RS485 Interface

The idea is that the REMOTE unit sends joystick data to the ROV over RS485? The HOST module interprets and excecutes the commands, gets sensor info and video, overlays all data on the video and sends that video back to the REMOTE unit for viewing. No data is sent back to the REMOTE unit.

Status

For now the hull is build (85%), the elctronics are build and software is written (75%). Have a look at the different parts in this blog.

Obtaining ROV Parts

One of the most difficult tasks is to obtain all the different parts. I am afraid I cannot help you with the mechanics parts (except with advice). I am planning however, to make the electronic parts available in some way (empty PCBs, build and testedc PCB, software ...) but that will be in a later stage.

Feedback, Questions ...

All feedback is welcome as wel as technical questions. I could not have realized this project without getting a lot of help from the community so I am willing to do something in return !

Do not hesitate to contact me tony@tkdomain.be

Pictures tell so much ..... enjoy !

Basic components are acryl, aluminum, blood ans sweat ! :-)

Some raw acrylic material

Raw aluminum

Support for the tubes

From the rough block ....

... to a finished fromt cap !

.. and aluminum back caps !

The initial thrusters that were described earlier on this were no good. They easily cracked and then leaked. With (a lot of) help from my friends Roland and Luc (sea earlier posts) we designed some brand new thrusters reusing the original motors. They were made in aluminum and look very professional, sealed with O-ring and something new called a xxxxxx ring. (Will fill that in later when I remember).

These are pictures of the completed thruster :

The separate components are shown here :

Finally managed to get the lights ready as well. The housings were made in aluminum and can be fitted with a normal Halogen spot of LED, HI-power LED's or Luxeon Led's.

Some pictures :

If you have any questions, suggestions or simply want to get in contact, you can always email me at tony@tkdomain.be ! Please allow for a few days for answering.

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Tony