This is a seriously impressive drone, I wouldn't be surprised if DJI isn't taking notes. It would be truly impressive to be able to fly to a large body of water or even a pond then dive in to look around before taking off again. I would imagine though that signal loss would be a real problem. This would open up even more video capabilities, seamlessly filming underwater then taking off and showing the surroundings.
Seriously Impressive Drone - Underwater + Aerial
- Thread starter herein2021
- Start date
For sure, I would love to have an underwater drone that you can take to any lake, dive in, and start taking pictures and videos. I know such equipment exists but an inexpensive consumer version meant for recreational use would be ideal. We have enough trouble flying in the airspace, I wonder what it's like trying to secure the ability to go into various bodies of water? Probably even more restrictive.
I didn't think about the regulations side of it but I think it would be far less that the airspace restrictions since an underwater drone can't collide with an airliner or fall on anyone's head, plus underwater you can't really annoy anyone by buzzing around their heads. Of course I have no doubt some local governments would still find a way to regulate/ban them regardless if they started getting popular.
There are some underwater drones already for consumers/prosumers at a reasonable price, but of course none can fly. I can see the camera being a real challenge as well, few natural bodies of water that I have seen are clear and drone cameras have a hard enough time in bright daylight, I can only imagine the problems in murky water.
Controlling it would be a real challenge as well, I think all of the current underwater consumer grade drones are tethered to the controller via a physical wire. I have had signal loss just dropping down to a few feet above the open ocean, can't imagine diving in on top of that.
Theoretically, if you did have one of these, when you decided to become a submarine, some kind of antenna would pop out and float to the surface and be tethered by fiber optic or electrical wires to the drone now underwater. The biggest issue with a tether would be getting tangled in subsurface obstacles. Then of course, as the drone comes to the surface, either eject the tether, or have it roll back up into the now-flying drone. Sweet idea but would need some serious engineering, like ballast weights, waterproofing air vents, etc. But in my mind's eye I can see this happening. You listening Elon? Probably not, since you will be living on Mars anyway.
I have seen some consumer level “submarine” drones. They all have a tether like you mention. I think it could be done. The Swellpro Spry is totally waterproof and it floats. What if it was made with a chamber that could be pumped full of water to make it less buoyant? Like a real submarine……then add a retractable tether.Theoretically, if you did have one of these, when you decided to become a submarine, some kind of antenna would pop out and float to the surface and be tethered by fiber optic or electrical wires to the drone now underwater. The biggest issue with a tether would be getting tangled in subsurface obstacles. Then of course, as the drone comes to the surface, either eject the tether, or have it roll back up into the now-flying drone. Sweet idea but would need some serious engineering, like ballast weights, waterproofing air vents, etc. But in my mind's eye I can see this happening. You listening Elon? Probably not, since you will be living on Mars anyway.
Wait!!!! How about making the drone waterproof but not buoyant and then add a floating antenna that has a retractable cable?
Mike
I think you are really expecting a lot from a consumer drone; they can barely stay in the air let alone successfully release a tethered antenna, dive under the water, then surface, retract the antenna and take off again. A negative buoyant drone would be even worse; if the battery got low it would not be able to pump the water out and would sink.
I think at the very expensive end of the spectrum it is all possible, just not at prices consumers are willing to pay.
People are paying thousands for a Mavic 3 just to fly around and take pictures as a hobby. I think you are way off about what people would spend for such a toy. I do agree it would not be cheap but I have successfully built a dji f450 that is waterproof and floats for under $200. So someone that actually does design drones for a business should be able to do much better.
Mike
A Mavic 3 by now is using pretty mature technology, I'm thinking a drone that could reliably fly and dive under water would easily be in the $5K range which is where people start to rethink their purchase.
There are a lot more challenges beyond just floating; making the battery to drone connection watertight, finding a way for the flight motors and battery to stay cool while sealed in a waterproof enclosure, finding a way to somehow keep the signal from dying the minute you drop below the tree line (getting to a body of water is one thing, keeping control of the drone after it drops below around 80' when you are 1,000' away is another), making a reliable underwater propulsion system (using the flight props like they show on this drone IMO would be too inefficient), overcoming underwater drag, providing lighting underwater (most bodies of water are far murkier than this controlled demo), etc, etc.
All of those challenges cost quite a bit of R&D money to solve which is then passed on to the consumers/early adopters. I think it is telling that even the military (as far as we know) doesn't have a drone that can do this and they pretty much have unlimited budgets compared to consumers which I think is an indication of just how hard this is to do at a scale and reliability level that is acceptable.
I think something far simpler like a drone that can land on water but dip the camera below so it is underwater but not the whole drone then the ability to take off again would be more realistic. It would still have to be a very calm body of water, no diving underwater, and the operator would probably have to be within a few hundred feet to overcome the whole signal loss/obstacle problem. A setup like that would be useful when filming real estate videos where you drop into the pool then seamlessly increase elevation to reveal the whole property.
Dave Pitman
Well-Known Member
Consumer underwater drones are fairly well established. They do not fly in the air and they are tethered. So are very expensive commercial grade underwater drones. Note, they generallty call them rovers, not drones. But they are controlled the same as airborne drones.
Check out the Chasing M2 series and the Fifish V6 series. Cool products.
Check out the Chasing M2 series and the Fifish V6 series. Cool products.
I get it, there are drones that can float, ones that can fly, and others that dive underwater, but all I am saying is that reliably combining all of this into something consumers could buy at a price they are willing to pay is a challenge that hasn't yet been overcome. A drone that can fly, float, and dive underwater would probably be mediocre at all 3 while having a price tag few would be willing to pay.
Underwater presents massive challenges that just don't exist when flying; particularly in how to get the control signal from the remote controller to the underwater drone which is why the mature underwater drones/rovers have a physical tether to the controller; something that wouldn't work if the drone was also expected to fly. The TJ Flying fish proof of concept is still pretty cool nonetheless but in their demos they are hiding many of the real world challenges.
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