Development of DugongBot Underwater Drones Using Open-Source Robotic Platform

This paper presents the development and fabrication of an open source, do-it-yourself underwater drone called DugongBot, which is developed in collaboration with the Underwater Technology Research Group (UTeRG), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. Research institutes and hobbyist have shown a growing interest in the development of micro observation class remotely operated vehicle (micro-ROV) using open-source platform. Currently, OpenROV and Ardusub are the low-cost open-source solutions that are available for such ROVs. The open-source hardware and software platforms are being used worldwide for the development of small range of electrical powered ROV system’s architecture, with support from the literature in the internet and the extensive experience acquired with the development of robotic exploration systems. This paper presents the development of DugongBot, which uses the OpenROV open-source platform. Weighing approximately 3 kg and designed for 100 m depth, the drone uses a single 18 cm long watertight tube in 10 cm diameter to accommodate the main electronics compartment, which can be tilted up and down with a servo, for CMOS sensor HD webcam alignment. Two horizontal thrusters for forward, reverse and rotational movement and a vertical thruster for depth control is also used for manoeuvrability.