The Hull Has Arrived!

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At the beginning of the project, I had dreams of creating a custom hull. I still do, but I quickly realized such an endeavor, with little to no mechanical experience, would set the project back further than I wish. All that being said, I purchased an ROV.

"No, it's not cheating," I screamed at my internal dialogue. While teleoperation will be an important part of our AUV, autonomy remains the main goal. On top of that, I plan to keep neither the computer that comes with the vehicle, nor its software. 

Why buy the ROV then? Well:

  • It's a prefab hull that I don't need to design or order
  • It came with six of the thrusters I planned to order
  • The lead time on the ROV was shorter than ordering the thrusters themselves
  • This particular design has "fins" to which to attach sensors
  • The ROV cost only slightly more than the sum of the thrusters
  • I estimate I have reduced the time to maiden voyage by at least 4 months
  • We always have the option to reuse hardware for future, custom-hulled models

Rather than drone on any longer, here it is-- the BlueRobotics BlueROV:

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