Jason Rollette, an electrical engineer, and his 12-year-old son, Trevor, have simple dreams. For example, they want to showcase their home on the Parade of Homes to raise money for the local library. Moreover, they want to explore the lakes and rivers near their Milwaukee home. So they built their own ROV for roughly $300. It took them 4 days. Fashioned from 2- and 4-inch-diameter PVC piping, controlled and powered by a laptop, and steered by a joystick, their ROV can swim more than a quarter of a mile, dive to depths of 250 feet, and watch the whole thing over the live feed the camera sends back to shore. Next up: a motorized claw for grabbing treasure...or whatever they find in the Wisconsin waterways. If you want to see how they made their ROV, they have the specs, parts list, and footage of the ROV in action on their website.
Related:
- 14-Year-Old Builds Working Sub Out Of A Pig Trough
- Engineering Students Make ROV Capable of Diving to 400 Feet
- A DIY ROV That Uses Atari Joysticks As Controllers
- DIY ROV for $100
[Via Digg]
1. My son loved this article. He is involved in both the 'first lego league' and the 'odyssey of the mind' groups which both help teach and guide kids to 'think outside the box'. Great job Dad guiding your son in the same way. Now my son wants to build one too.
Posted at 7:39AM on Jul 3rd 2008 by Felicia Cuiso