Sea Scout's ROV Saga

It's now just a matter of getting all the bits and pieces and putting it all together.  The picture below shows a ten LED floodlight which at 12 volts only draws 0.15 amps. and provides plenty of illumination.  It will be attached to the front of the ROV and be used to light up the cave containing the crustaceans.

         

At our meeting this week we also worked on the compressed air controls for the endefector.  We had procured a three way valve only to find that while it would force the cylinder arm open it would not draw it closed.  And so not function as a control valve for the endofector.

Sea Scouts finalize design of ROV

This past week we had a great lesson in applied physics as Mr. Ricketts lectured us on the advantages of a mechanical arm.  Below is a brief video of Mr. Ricketts in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3x9_Hv3TAs

We have ordered compressed air valves and other components and hopefully the scouts will be building a ROV that can be tested.  

Sea Scouts design ROV details.

This last meeting crew leader, Gabriel, shared his thinking on the operation of the ROV's "endofector".  Check out the video below on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8FECXINp90

We also discussed how to power the operation of the endofector.  It was generally agreed that compressed air should be used.  The rules state that a pressure of up to 40psi can be used.  The question was then raised where were the control valves to be located?  Placed actually on the ROV would require only one air hose but might require a holding tank and control wires to operate the valves.  A much easier design would be to have two air hoses and place mechanically operated valves on the surface.  

Discussion then moved to Task#4, removal of a goop sample from the sea floor.  For this the crew had come up with a thin metal tube pushed down into the goop (gelatin)  with a flap valve that would close and create a vacuum when the tube was with drawn.  It was found that if tabs were cut and bent into the tube the sample of goop could be retrieved successfully.