Project Statement

Scout Sub is an autonomous submarine to monitor water quality in the Charles. A series or swarm of these bots would be deployed in the Charles to monitor water quality providing live data feed to people that like to use the river for recreational use safely. Allowing us to get better use out of such a cool local water source.

Precedents

Charles River Watershed Report Cards

Ocean Cleanup Robot

Custom Printed Submarine 5

Motion systems

Pressure Hull Rev 1

We started with a standard segment of 1.25" PVC capped with 3d printed caps made out of pla closed together with 2 m6 threaded rods. One of the caps had an acrylic window on the front to allow a camera to see through.

Pressure Hull Rev 2

The new cap is made out of petg and has a higher quantety of walls to prevent water from seeping through. In addition we transitioned to a poly carbonate tube with acrylic spacers to help with mounting.

Motor mounting



The initial motor mounting made by acrylic was attached bye 3 points on the same axis the tube, and the 2 threaded rods. This one axis of attachment lead to some issues. We moved to new mounts with more points of contact.

Updated motion systems

Communication

Electronics

Controller in water tight vessel

Water tight cable gasket/end cap

5x Brushless motors driving sub

Lights, sensors, and cameras

Next Steps

1. Continue end cap development and finalize motor mounting
2. Waterproof external electronics
3. Mount external/internal electronics
4. Implement water quality sensors