A team of DIY engineers is working on building a fully autonomous submarine. They are different from the previous models that rely on joysticks for navigation and control. The new design aims to navigate independently into the depths of the ocean.
One big challenge is that GPS doesn’t work underwater, so the submarine has to figure out where it is without getting lost or running out of power. The team came up with a clever solution, which is to attach a GPS module to a floating buoy that stays on the surface, connected to the submarine with a short tether. That way, it can still figure out its location without getting lost. And to keep it running for as long as possible, they packed it with powerful batteries that last up to 12 hours. To make it as efficient as possible, they gave it a sleek, tube-like shape, just like real submarines and airplanes, to reduce drag and move smoothly through the water.
The core electronics and battery are sealed inside an aluminum tube, while the steering system was 3D-printed for a custom fit. The drone basically runs on Raspberry Pi, and with the help of Pixhawk, the main brain of the submarine, along with a wifi router, the submarine is completed.
After weeks of building and tweaking, they tested it for the first time. The submarine had trouble turning and maintaining the right depth, and a key motor failed, so they had to rethink the steering system entirely, install a new motor at the front, and change the fins with bigger ones. With those upgrades, the next test run went much better.
There’s still room to improve, like making the buoy more stable and reducing drag, but the team is already gearing up for a long-distance mission. Next, they plan to remove the tether and let the submarine roam freely over the ocean.
This DIY submarine project is exciting news for the DIY community. It shows that you don’t need a big research lab to build something amazing.
