FAQ

How deep can it go?

Structurally, OpenROV has been designed to go to 100m depth. However, we've only tested it to depths of about 20m so far.

Does it work in salt water?

Yes, but the salt water accelerates the corrosion of the brushless motors. Our current strategy has been to spray them with silicon mold release before use and to give them a fresh-water rinse after every salt water dive. This seems to work pretty well, but more testing is needed. If the motors do need to be replaced, they are low cost and off the shelf. The community is working hard to develop ways to make the motors run longer and stronger.

Do you have interns from the University of North Alaska?

No, not yet.

How fast does the ROV travel/ what kind of current can it fly in?

With the current propellers we are using (which still have plenty of room to be optimized), the ROV moves at about 1m/s. We're looking for propellers that will be more efficient, and we are even investigating the possibility of making our own, so if you happen to be an aerospace engineer, we could use your help!

How is the ROV powered?

We use 8 on-board C batteries (which are mounted in the two white tubes at the bottom of the ROV). These allow the ROV to fly around for about an hour. Higher capacity batteries could be used to make the ROV last longer, but we wanted to use something available everywhere. There are also ways to send power for the ROV down the tether, but that's still in the community development phase.

How is the ROV controlled?

Flying the ROV is a lot like playing a video game. The interface is hosted as a webserver from the ROV that allows you to control its movements with your computer's keyboard and see it's video feed on your screen. We're also developing an interface that will use a USB game controller. Eventually, we plan to make the ROV controllable via the internet, and our hope is that developers who get the kit through this Kickstarter project will have ideas for how to help.

What comes after Kickstarter?

We want this to be a sustainable adventure. Our plan is to get user feedback from people who build and operate OpenROV's to make the design even better and more fitted toward the community's needs. We plan to continue selling OpenROV Kits (and assembled OpenROVs) on our website as well as payloads and accessories for specific uses. We also hope that by building a strong community of people who understand the hardware and its applications, we'll be able to develop ways of doing better science and exploration in more remote and interesting places.