FishPi - automated surface vessel.

this is my favourite raspi project at the moment

SN said:

this is my favourite raspi project at the moment

We hope to keep you interested

If you want to know the lastest head to the FishPi forum http://fishpi.org/forum

Great project. I can see the days of the explorers come back: first the Channel, then the Atlantic and finally non-stop around the world

I was thinking that for traveling around the ocean wouldn't it be possible to submerge to a depth of say 10 meters and let the vessel be carried by the currents while in hybernation? That would avoid the constant hammering of the waves (especially during storms) and make it possible to travel large distances without using power. Just a thought.

BTW, if your project works and you give the vessel room for a 10kg payload I'm sure some guys from Columbia will buy a couple

poing said:

let the vessel be carried by the currents while in hybernation?

Pi in a bottle - it hits the shore wherever the currents take it, then phones home to tell you where it landed

I hate to be one to dim the mood, but make sure you consider the legal implications of this. It should be fine but make sure you do research in to who you need to notify about the project.

Keep up the good work, I like the idea.

You could use charge controllers with dump loads etc you should try your best to be under power constantly.

check out reuk.co.uk great resource for solar.

LiamRickerby said:

I hate to be one to dim the mood, but make sure you consider the legal implications of this. It should be fine but make sure you do research in to who you need to notify about the project.

no mood dimming, just another obsticle to clear and light up the way

Oooooh, this is sounding interesting! Bookmarked your site!

If you want to keep it under power constantly, a quick calculation:

Pi uses 700mA @ 5V so you need 5 x 0.7 x 24 = 84 Wh.

Propulsion (smallest standard engine for small boats) = 12 x 5.28 x 24 = 1521  Wh

Total is about 1600 Wh. If you're in the tropics you have say 10 productive hours at full output so you'll need a 160W panel, not counting losses from charging batteries and possible clouds in front of the sun. I'd go with a 300W panel.

I think

i was looking at 65w or 80w, that did include powering down at night.

Been back on the wave glider site again (liquid robotics, "PACX" for the Pacific crossing) - there's a PDF of their robot specifications which makes an interesting comparison.

e.g. 2m long, 90 Kg (150 Kg displacement), 80W solar panel.  And no propellor of course.

They've reached Hawaii after several months, though one's lost its rudder...

Well its nearly been a month since the idea was floated in the sea of thoughts that is my head, and there has been some progress.

A hull to build a proof-of-concept vehicle has been ordered and is currently being handmade as i type.

there has been some development on the software with a FishPi simulator used to calculate power, navigational and route variables.

the website (http://fishpi.org) has just been revamped and theres now a twitter account @TheFishPi for the project.

the next few weeks will show much more progress as the test vehicle is built up. at the moment i think we're in the doldrums while we all wait for our RPis to arrive.

in the meantime ideas are postured, hardware examined and minds exhausted….

FishPi has just been launched on the crowd funding site indigogo.com (http://www.indiegogo.com/fishpi), for anyone who wants a piece of the FishPi head over to the project"s page. The FishPi website & forum are at http://fishpi.org.

What about an underwater sail/wing/aerofoil? So, similar in shape to a sail or a vertical aircraft wing but it moves underwater using the sea currents rather than the wind/air as propulsion. The pi would calculate an optimal course based on measured sea currents and last plotted position to steer and orient the craft in 3 dimensions using submarine-like hydroplanes/rudder. It may have to beat a course up-current, tacking as it went. Every so often (couple of hours?) it would surface and take a GPS reading. It could have an accelerometer to determine orientation in the water and to provide data for a rudimentary inertial navigation system (in between GPS readings). Depending on the pressure resistance of the craft, it could be made to hunt vertically in the water column for better suited current directions and strength.

Advantages are no major power requirement for propulsion and avoiding all those nasty waves and weather up top. Perhaps a small ram air (water) turbine (like aeroplanes use when they lose all their engine power) could be mounted to derive enough power to run the pi/etc. and charge batteries.

It would be a quaternion dream!

I think that is a really cool idea, I live near the sea and have also been thinking along these lines in the form of a submersible cartography unit. What do you think of this idea and do you have any ideas on how I could make it waterproof?