Building a Micro ROV to Find a Lost Submarine

The Lost Submarine and the Need for an ROV

• 🎯 The video begins with the premise of a lost submarine project that "ran away" in a lake, prompting a recovery mission.
• 💡 The creator, Peter, decides to build a new, improved Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) because his previous one was "a piece of junk" designed when he was five years old.
• 🚀 The goal is to build an ROV that a six-year-old could make, focusing on simplicity and improved functionality over the old analog design.

Designing and Building the Micro ROV

• 🧠 The new ROV design utilizes an Arduino and UART communication, requiring only three wires (two for data, one for video) compared to the previous eight.
• 🛠️ This simplified wiring is crucial because radio waves do not travel well underwater, necessitating a physical cable.
• 🧪 Initial tests confirm that the camera feed works through the cable without interference, even when motor signals are sent.
• 🌊 The design emphasizes a small, lightweight, and watertight pressure bulkhead, using superglue and epoxy to seal wire pass-throughs.
• 💡 Brushless motors and lithium-ion cells are chosen for better performance and longer run times, a significant upgrade from the previous analog, brushed motor system.

Testing and Challenges

• 🌊 A "dunk test" reveals the ROV sinks like a rock and initially has no video feed until powered correctly.
• 🎮 The control system is rudimentary, with buttons for up, down, forward, backward, and turning, but it functions effectively.
• 💧 A crucial pressure test at 40 ft confirms the ROV is watertight, a success for the 3D-printed components.
• 🔍 The lake test demonstrates the ROV's maneuverability and video capabilities, but searching for the lost submarine proves difficult due to the vastness of the lake and the lack of a clear search pattern.

Search Efforts and New Technology

• 🗺️ Initial search efforts focus on a GPS marker, but the submarine's movement after sinking makes pinpointing its location challenging.
• 🛶 A kayak-based scanning apparatus with a tail is tested, but visibility is poor, described as a "barren wasteland of dead things."
• 🎣 The creator invests in expensive side-scan sonar technology, hoping it will definitively locate the submarine.
• 📉 However, the sonar proves ineffective for detecting the plastic submarine once it hits the lakebed, leading to disappointment and a perceived waste of money.

The Search Continues and Unexpected Finds

• ⚓ A new inflatable raft is used for searching, proving more practical than the sonar.
• 🐢 During the search, an unexpected find occurs: a boat anchor, which the creator humorously notes offsets the cost of the sonar.
• 🎣 The search continues, and eventually, the lost submarine is located and successfully recovered using the ROV's tether.
• ⚠️ The recovery mission is cut short as the creator and his equipment are asked to leave by "water police" due to an unregistered raft, preventing further exploration of a promising new area.

Conclusion and Future Plans

• 🤷 The ultimate fate of the original submarine remains uncertain; it may have floated up, been found by someone else, or is still lost.
• 🚀 The project successfully resulted in a functional, albeit simple, micro ROV, designed to be useful for future underwater recovery tasks.
• 🤔 The creator acknowledges the need to improve scanning techniques and potentially build a more powerful ROV for future searches, while also expressing a desire to move on to new projects.