SemiAutonomous Submersible robot for underwater research

this is a submersible robot (a little submarine) that can be operated in manual or semi-autonomous mode.

FOR DESCRIPTION OF WHAT ALL THE FILES ARE, GO TO THE LAST STEP

Step 1 Circuit Diagram

TO BE ABLE TO READ THE DIAGRAM, CLICK HERE:
http://static2.instructables.com/ID/F7S/YPXY/Q6SEP27UXHB/4AA2923407121029853F001143E7E506.gif

the rest of the pictures show the construction of the sub. It was made out of two C channels connected by an aluminum sheet. A skid was added to the bottom to allow the sub to skate over the bottom to gather quantitative video samples of the ecology. The skid and two C channels (necessary to hold the large # of sensors desired) was a little heavy so the sub had trouble moving up and down using it's one vertical motor (although there is a fourth small motor in the diagram, we never added that). You should definately be able to make the body a lot lighter so that a single vertical trolling motor will be fine.

Comments

[manu1975]

simply incredible!! nice job!! congratulations!!

a question, where did you find the motors??

[jumpup_dnb_dj]

The link for schematic doesn't work.

[shaf789]

wooow

[jeng12]

what is the estimated total weight of your submersible robot? :).... by the way, good work :)

[leevonk]

hm, I don't know, was a while ago. maybe 60 or 70lbs? that's just ballpark. that's why we had to add the styrofoam. we should have built it with pvc tubing like everyone else, but we used to heavy duty plastic for the body that was not necessary.

[Ben Harden]

My brain just died.. I'll be coming back when I understand what this is

[Nyanman]

impressive!

[daniel2008]

very nice submarine,
would you consider submitting it to the new ROV group ?

[SuperCoPilot]

can this be put in a "for dummies" format? lol

[pacey_waring]

the Joe-Schmoe version: Just give your little brother a pair of goggles, and throw 50 cents in :) INSTANT SUBMARINE

[awang8]

Hmm... I wonder if you can attach cameras and use his arms as manipulators...

[SuperCoPilot]

i could just toss him in

[Eddiepers]

Thats funny. LOL I am telling the truth. It is Funny!

[leevonk]

it's all there in the circuit diagram and in the included documentation I've provided for download. The circuit diagram contains all parts numbers and names of all parts I used. It also has the pin numbers and pin names that are connected to and it contains all external components and their values (resistors, capacitors, crystals, etc). If you make the circuit as shown and program the basic stamp with the code I provided everything will work as described. If you don't get the circuit diagram just look up some electronics tutorial on google and a very basic introduction should be all you need to understand how to make the circuit yourself.

[ArisenProdigy]

AHHH!!!! I think if I were ten years younger (when I had had more time and patience to learn new stuff) I'd have one of these. About how much did this cost for you to purchase all these parts, however?

[leevonk]

I don't remember I think it was around $1500 or 2000. It was a project for research purposes so wasn't my own money.

[pharoah]

Extra points for the use of Qbasic :)

[leevonk]

haha, yeah I totally forgot I even used that, I don't think the lab I was working at had visual c++ or any other visual language, and Qbasic got the job done (little moving diagrams of the sub acording to it's angles etc)

[chunkymuggen]

awesome

[Coffee bean]

WHAT!

[leevonk]

hahaha, it's all there man, heheh

[Ricky2443]

Cool project man, i have a question thou. I saw that your using a Dualshock to control the submersible, i've been trying to get find a way to control my robot that way, how did u rig it?

[leevonk]

I'll try to reupload a smaller diagram so you can see it and put some code to show how to interface from a basic stamp to the dual shock controller.

[Beanwaur]

dude, this would be great if i could read the damn schematic >.<

[radiorental]

Like, totally click on the little (i) in the top left of the image dude, and then like most definitely click on the largest image link down on the left hand side of this new page. That should totally sort you out for a readable diag dude (o; yer, I know.. its not obvious.

[Beanwaur]

sweet, thanks

[leevonk]

yeah, for some reason the website shrunk the schematic a bit so you can't read it. I don't know how to make it so you could see it, I'll try to shrink down the picture and repost it later this weekend.

[radiorental]

very nice project, if you're not aware you can select areas of the images and add notes. You can also upload files as well as images

[leevonk]

I tried uploading code and other documentation into the library but they dissapeared

[instructables-eric]

We're working on making this better. For the time being, once you have added your intro and first step, make sure you are in the editor and click on the step you would like to associate a file with. You can link a file to that step by uploading it under the "upload a new image or file" heading. Files that are not recognized as images don't currently make it into the image library, so you have to put them into the step individually. Wouldn't it be great to have CAD, schematic, spreadsheet, and other filetype libraries? We're working on it!

[radiorental]

interesting, I've seen other project with cad files and what have you. I wonder if there's a whitelist of file extensions. Either way, stick with the site.. it is quirky and the navigation system is based on a medieval road map of london. I find myself just clicking my login name at the top left to get back to where I started. You can email files to your library: Click your name > change settings > upload email good luck in the comp, take care - pauric

[leevonk]

I uploaded relevant files now