Build your own OpenROV!

OpenROV is a open-source underwater robot. But it's so much more. It's also a community of people who are working together to create more accessible, affordable, and awesome platform for underwater exploration. (Here's a little bit more history.)

If you want to start building an OpenROV and contributing to the community development process, there are two options:

  1. Buy a kit with (most of) the OpenROV parts.

  2. Source all the parts yourself, buying them either online or at local hardware shops. Here is the list of all the parts you need to buy

Assembly of the entire OpenROV 2.3 structure can be done over a weekend, and most sections take less then an hour. Listed with each assembly section is a Bill Of Materials (what parts and tools you'll need), general notes for the assembly (what the best working space is, how long it should take, what each part is for, etc), the instruction set itself, and notes on what to do if something goes wrong.

Improvements  and features are continually added by builders who have found better solutions. So check back often for the latest design updates. Remember, if you have questions, you can always visit the OpenROV builder's forum.

Building the OpenROV doesn't require a master in robotics or engineering, but it's a fun project that can be completed in a weekend. We have laid down all the steps in a (hopefully) easy to follow guide. When you have done with the building and used your ROV a few times, if you feel like you can start contributing, either by contributing to the core system (body, electronics or code) or by building extensions (payloads) that plug into the ROV.

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Comment by Dennis Sweet on December 11, 2012 at 5:02pm

First let me say that you should not confuse knowledge with intelligence, while they are related they are not the same. While you do not yet have all of the knowledge that you want, the fact that you are pursuing it demonstrates your intelligence.  Never stop seeking knowledge! 

One thought for your simple-design ROV:  don't use a pair for the light. Leave the light on when underwater. That would leave 1-pair that could be used for 10Base-T ethernet (like OpenROV).

Comment by Dennis Sweet on December 11, 2012 at 1:22pm

A response to Juanpablo Frias' comment: "...with the extended USB cable, the webcam won't even turn on."  I assume that you have extended the existing WebCam USB cable (sorry if this is incorrect).  The USB standard allows for cable lengths of up to 4.5 Meters (14.76 feet). The reason for this is that the supply voltage on USB ports is only 5v, very vulnerable to voltage drops. The higher your current draw, the greater the voltage drop. If you purchase a quality commercial 4.5 Meter USB cable, you will notice that it is quite a bit stiffer, that is because the conductors that carry power have been "beefed up" by using a larger wire size. USB is really designed to be used connecting devices on the same desktop (2 meters of cable or so).

Comment by David Lang on December 9, 2012 at 11:50am

Hey Juanpablo, how long is your USB? We've used USB extenders for earlier tests of the ROV, but they maxed out around 25 feet.

Comment by David Murphy on December 8, 2012 at 10:34am

Hi Kaleb.

Just an FYI the BeageBone can be purchased from Mouser Electronics: http://ca.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=beagle+bone

Also they show the OpenRov Cape but not available yet.

 

Comment by Garrett Johnson on December 3, 2012 at 2:08am
We applied for a research permit to commence in May, but hopefully we will be able to go in April, for a period of two months. Your ROVs will be the primary component of our research. The cool thing is that no one to date has studied deep reefs of the Galapagos! Of course you all will be mentioned in all press associated with the work. If my funding is approved I plan to purchase an additional ROV to be donated to the Galapagos National Park Service to be used in future research. While my background is marine biology I interned with a rebreather and dive computer R&d company in the UK earlier this year for five months and aim to implement electrical components they use for their dive computers all info being displayed on a 2.5 inch OLED screen. The plan is to make an acrylic mount to mate to the ROV so that the camera can send live depth and temperature readings as well as serve as a dive-profile log that can be downloaded post-dive via USB. The work you all are doing is fantastic and I can assure that it is destined to be a game-changer in the future!
Comment by Kaleb Klein on December 1, 2012 at 1:58pm

i also made the same mistake in building the old e chassis but no worries i still have some scrap blue laying around, looks like everyone got the clear blue plastic like i did i wanted the blue like eric and david designed but anyway ordering all electronics parts i can in a few days minus the beagle bone until i can purchase one off the site, look forward to completing this rov and hopefully ill be exploring along side my rov as my stepdad who is not quite agile enough to dive will be like hes diving with me in real time.

Comment by David Lang on November 28, 2012 at 5:25pm

I think Simone might be right... an impossible tetris puzzle.

Comment by Simone Chiaretta on November 28, 2012 at 10:41am

With "might not fit" I mean that the old echassis might be too small for the beaglebone with the cape on top. But might work too... never tried

Comment by Marius Antares on November 28, 2012 at 7:37am

"who are all these beta guys, and why do they keep testing our stuff?!?!"   lol

Comment by Marius Antares on November 28, 2012 at 7:34am

One of the reasons I'm building from scratch is to get closer to speed with the rest of you, and so I can better write wiki docs (doing is the best learning).  So this is a good excercise regardless....and we aren't short on imagination...I can look up the specs on the cams, can you elaborate on "might not fit"?...what is the official name for this version so I might reference it properly?  We also discovered some issues with the site that have been promptly fixed so no one else makes my silly mistake....

Comment by Simone Chiaretta on November 28, 2012 at 12:14am
The old echassis won't work with the new webcam, and might not have enough room for the electronics, and above all there is no doc on how to fit the components inside. But with a bit of imagination, since you already have the echassis done, you could try and make everything fit together :)
Comment by Marius Antares on November 27, 2012 at 7:53pm

Is the old version viable?  I'm not one of those "gotta have the latest thing" personalities, however if it is missing significant functionality or will explode or something that would be a reason to cut new parts...lol.

Comment by David Lang on November 27, 2012 at 7:28pm

Yup, unfortunately that's the old version of the echasis. Sorry about the confusion. 

Here's the new one: https://github.com/OpenROV/openrov-hardware/blob/master/OpenROV_Dev...(Compact).cdr

Man, cleaning up the site and instructions is now priority #1. Doing our best!

Comment by Marius Antares on November 27, 2012 at 7:26pm

Comment by Marius Antares on November 27, 2012 at 1:32pm

I guess the next question is to confirm what version we have, and then be sure there are no additional pieces that need to be cut......thanks for the assistance...the build is going well.  Feel free to contact me on face time or tele....marius@charter.net or 314-304-8731....I have more photos if you want to see them...

Comment by David Lang on November 27, 2012 at 9:33am

Yea, Marius, that doesn't look right. It's hard to tell from the photo.

And, yes, I also realized that there were some pieces in the cut file that no longer were used. We're just trying to keep you on your toes ;)

I'll work with Eric to get that all cleaned up, along with everything else on the BOM.

I'll post a photo of the echasis when I get back to the office tomorrow. Also, did you watch the video on the wiki: http://wiki.openrov.com/index.php/Assembly#Assembling_the_Internal_...

Comment by Simone Chiaretta on November 27, 2012 at 2:42am

@Marius: this doesn't look right... I think it's a mix of the two versions :)

2.3.2 doesn't have the horizontal divider from what I remember

Comment by David Lang on September 20, 2012 at 6:43pm

Thanks Scott! Arducopter is great. We're big fans of what they're building. We've moved onto the linux-supporting boards bc they can host a webcam as well as ethernet. Long term, there's so much more potential for the ROV with a Beaglebone or Rasberry Pi (or whatever comes next).

The ArduCopter sensor package is great, but quite different than what we'll need (pressure, temperature, etc). The OpenROV beaglebone cape will have an Atmega328, so you'll have a familiar Arduino programing environment for adding sensors.

Comment by Scott Kellie on September 20, 2012 at 9:36am

Arduino comment time. 

I have been tinkering with the arduino and various oilpan/imu/6dof/10dof style shields and rebuilt boards. I appreciate I am just diving in here (pun) but the Arduino mega can run this project standalone, look at the arducopter, multiwii, mikrokopter, megapirate. The apps and firmware are there and just need adapting to use in an underwater environment.

You can buy chinese direct sensor shields and Arduino mega based boards already tried and proven with motor drivers and servo drivers already inbuilt, gyro and accelerometer sensors, barometric sensors, automatic camera levelling and are only left then with sending the video back topside. 

Comment by Scott Kellie on September 20, 2012 at 9:27am

Looking at this project has stirred my inventiveness. I have quite a lot of ideas and thoughts on this project as I've been pondering it myself for a while. 

I think we could draw a lot from the UAV projects such as. 

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/ArduCopter

This has a fair few good ideas in the ground control software such as an artificial horizon and simulated viewpoints etc. 

Looking forward to getting some parts together and starting to tinker again. 

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