OpenROV was a marine robotics company focused on democratizing underwater exploration through the development of low cost Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology and an online community of citizen scientists and makers. OpenROV created a series of ROV kits as well as a ready-to-use ROV called Trident, both of which were launched on the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter
OpenROV was founded by David Lang and Eric Stackpole in 2011
and was based for most of its history in Berkeley, CA
In 2019, OpenROV merged with Spoondrift Technologies to create Sofar Ocean Technologies.

Telerobotic submarine

OpenROV is a remotely operated mini-submarine that weighs ~2.6 kg and has dimensions 15 cm x 20 cm x 30 cm. This submarine is powered by eight 26650-format Li-ion batteries and can be assembled from common materials, with the most expensive piece being the BeagleBone Black

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

computer (~$89). The submarine is controlled from a

laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

computer connected to the submarine via a tether and is equipped with on-board LEDs and a camera. OpenROV is an

open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH, OSHW) consists of physical artifact (software development), artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by th ...

project. By providing the list of the submarine parts and instructions on how to assemble them, the developers aim to democratize underwater exploration.

Community

In addition to being a robotic submarine, OpenROV is also a DIY community of amateur and professional OpenROV submarine builders in over 30 countries that pursue underwater exploration.
OpenROV forums
provides a platform for users to discuss ideas, solve problems, and share information. Similarly, users can document builds, projects, and deployments on th
Open Explorer
platform.

Hall City Cave

The development of the OpenROV submarine was in part fueled by the legend that stolen gold is hidden in the deep waters of the Hall City Cave located near Hayfork in Trinity County, Northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. According to the legend, a few renegade Native Americans stole ~100 pounds of gold nuggets from miners in the 1800s, but were chased. To escape from the pursuit, the renegades had to bury the nuggets in deep waters of the nearby Hall City Cave to lighten their load, but could not retrieve the gold, because they were soon caught and hanged. Even though many have tried to find the gold, nobody has been able to get to the bottom of the narrow and deep well of the cave. Some of the OpenROV testing has taken place at that cave. However, there appears to be no newspaper reports of this particular ambush and murders, though there is a report of two miners being murdered and the gold being buried on one of the river flats of the upper Trinity River.

Developers

The idea to build OpenROV was pioneered by Eric Stackpole, an engineering intern at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

at the time, to discover whether the legend about the hidden treasure of the Hall City Cave was true. David Lang, a self-taught sailor from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, heard about Stackpole building a small, cheap, and robust submarine in his garage to search for the gold and became inspired to join. M.K. Borri designed and built the electronics, software and motor system for a prototype presented at the World Maker Faire in 2011. Lang and Stackpole co-founded OpenROV as an

project, a

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

, and a DIY community.

References

External links

OpenROV website (Retrieved October 2018)

Prototype overview

Eric Stackpole and David Lang explain OpenROV
on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

(2012)
Eric Stackpole explains OpenROV
on

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: NASA Space Apps Challenge (2012)
Eric Stackpole explains OpenROV
on

: Aquarius Reef Base (2012)
David Lang explains OpenROV
at TED (2013)

Bibliography

* El Jalaoui, A. (2007). ''Gestion Contextuelle de Tâches pour le contrôle d'un véhicule sous-marin autonome'' (Doctoral dissertation, Université Montpellier II-Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc). {{Underwater diving, divsup Remotely operated underwater vehicles Robotic submarines Open-source hardware Open content projects