It’s THE David Lang! Amazing!
If folks haven’t already checked it out https://experiment.com/ is an amazing resource to crowd-source an answer to your next scientific question! Check this one out about coral restoration!
Thanks, I’ll take a look at the example you linked to.
The brainstorming is always a lot of fun, right? When we first started talking about this, one of the comments that came up about how we might try to build things was, “you know, like a cubesat”. 
Like you guys getting ideas from USB, I’ve been doodling about the hardware a bit in terms of a frame with standard dimensions similar to how computer server rack are laid out, ie, “1U, 2U, etc”, with each “rack position” having common connectors and the like. I’ve also been doodling around the idea of having each ROV have one function and use swarming technology like we see with drones. The best part is that I get to turn it over to students who are a lot smarter than me.
Hi again,
I looked at the example you provided the link for. Thanks so much for providing that. Very cool to see something actually built. Are those components that are already available with Bristlemouth built in, or something that you conjured up yourself?
Ron
Hi Zack,
Thanks. I hope we’ll be able to come up with some interesting ideas that fit in with the work going on here.
Ron
Hey Ron,
These are all parts I’ve conjured up myself. The light, thrusters, batteries, and hub are all mechanically and electrically functional, however at the time I built them, the Bristlemouth protocol was not ready to use so as of now they are just on/off with power. Now that we have functional Bristlemouth Motes and the software is ready, I’m aiming to create fully functional versions of them that can be controlled with the proper protocol.
I totally agree with you about mechanical modularity as well. As you can see from the prototype, I’ve been working on designs that mount with screws to a flat surface. I’ve been thinking of designing all my modules to have 50mm hole spacing, and having them use M3 or M4 screws. Maybe it would even be possible to have pre-threaded holes in a grid pattern with that spacing sort of like optical breadboard.
Right now I’m working on making a functional camera module that uses a Raspberry Pi Zero, and can send video through Bristlemouth. Once that’s ready, I think I’ll be able to start building up some cool stuff. Are there any particular missions you’re interested in having your students accomplish with their work? What are the biggest barriers right now?
Eric
Hi,
One of our physics workshops has optical tables with the kind of tops that are showrn in the link. They seem to work very well with the components that are used and configured together. I have a small CNC router at home that also makes use of a grid of threaded holes. What might be interesting about that is that the holes are used with screws and clamps to hold down workpieces that the router is going to modify, rather than directly screwing down a workpiece, so that the workpiece can be odd sized to some extent. Metalworking mills have slots in their worktables that can also be used to clamp workpieces, and with that kind of setup, it’s even more flexible than having a gride of holes, although both could have their uses. That might allow some flexibility in how things might be attached to, say, a common bus of some kind in an ROV. It might also be possible to 3D print some sort of clamshell that could be used to hold an odd sized component and then have the clamshell attach in some standard fashion. Or, you know, duct tape, because that is the universal attachment system.
Seeing as we’re still in the formative stages of the project(s), I’m kind of seeing a number of steps along the way because of the educational value of bringing the students along into something that they may not be that familiar with. I’m pretty sure that they’ll all have some experience with robotics in some way, but doing that underwater is something different. So, I’ve got plans for a couple of small easy to fabricate ROVs that we can use for basic concepts on balance, buoyancy, propulsion, etc. While we’re building those, we’ll be talking through the concepts of making something that can go deep, as well as practical applications across a range of depths. Then, I think that there’s path that has us building the ROV that go to the bottom of the lake (and hopefully come back ), and a path to exploring other uses. I’ve been sketching out some ideas on making the ROVs autonomous to some extent and perhaps creating a small “swarm” similar to what’s done with drones, perhaps using lasers for the ROVs to track each other. I’ve been wondering it there’s merit to having multiple drones, each with a single function, rather than one drone that can do a lot of things. None of this is particularly new, and it plays off of things that have been done, but there are some interesting aspects to it, I think.
The barriers? Well, one would be that I’m certainly no expert in any of these things. I’m basically a tinkerer with an idea (or 10) . While I may be a bit ahead of the students just because I’m working on the idea now, we’ll get to a point that I won’t know any more than they do as we move forward. I’m thinking that that’s okay, but not having done this before, I can’t be sure.
Another challenge will be putting all of these ideas into a package that’s organized just enough that the students have some, but not too much, guidance. These projects fit into a seminar class that students can sign up for for credit, and the projects can actually stretch across multiple groups of students. My son actually worked on a project when he was getting his degree that didn’t actually get finished for a couple of years after he left, with other students picking up the project.
And, there’s always the resource challenge. The good news about that is that it forces us to find cheaper ways to do things. I think we can do quite a bit with off the shelf components (schedule 80 PVC pipe is my friend ), but, for example, if we’re going to try to work with Bristlemouth, I can see the specs, but I don’t have access to the actual connectors or anything like that, so that’s something we’ll have to figure out. Luckily we have some time for that.
So, we’re kind of a work in progress.
Ron
Just a quick thought on “missions”. I’d love for our ROV to be able to collect water samples and bottom samples from the lake. I’m not sure how we’d fabricate those and potentially control them with Bristlemouth.
I mentioned the swarming idea. It’d be interesting to build a laser sensor module. We’d probably need several on each ROV. I was going to take a look to see if the Bristlemouth protocol could handle those kinds of internal communications. I’ve barely cracked open the specs, so I’ve got some homework to do.
Ron
@Rongee Haha - don’t get me wrong, I’m also a big fan of attaching things with duct tape! I’m glad you like the hole pattern idea. I don’t know if that’s the right way to do things, but it makes enough sense to me to at least try.
I saw you posted in “Bristlemouth Modules for Underwater Vehicles” about the kind of project you’re interested in so I replied there (that’s a great place for the discussion), but just as I said there, I think Bristlemouth is a great platform for educational projects.
RE water samplers, do you have a sense how much water you need to collect? I know for a lot of science work, they need several liters at least to filter down to the sample size they want. A lot of work is also being done on in-situ water sampling. I’ve been working on an underwater microscope, for example, but there’s lots to be discussed on this topic.
I’m loving having this discussion with you, and I look forward to chatting about these things more. Let’s make your project happen!
e
Amongst the things that might possible with the threaded hole pattern is something I’ve seen with computers. If you’re like me, you’ve probably taken apart some laptops. Some components fit into a spot by having it plug into a connector, and if the connector is physically “in”, a couple of holes will line up at the other end of the component, allowing it, and the connector, to be locked in place by using a couple of the tiniest screws you’ve ever seen.
Re the sample collectors. Hmm, I have no idea at this point. Most of my experience with collecting physical samples is from sci-fi movies where something horrific is brought back to the lab. BUT, the professor in the physics department that I work with has a connection or two with the folks at a university on the west coast (he’s out there right now, actually) that are doing ocean research, and I’m hoping that we might get some guidance from them when we get to that point. But, boy, if they need that much from each sample, we might be looking at some sort of system that collects the sample (maybe a folded sack of some kind that can be filled via a pump) and then releases it to come to the surface separately using some kind of on-demand flotation (maybe an air bag inflator or a floatation vest inflator?). Kind of like the Mars rover that is leaving samples for another mission to pick up later.
I do appreciate the time you’ve taken to chat with me about our project. Hopefully some good, fun, interesting work will come out of it.
Likewise, @Rongee ! As technology is getting better, it may be possible to make use of much smaller samples. The last time I looked into it was quite a while ago, so it’s probably worth re-exploring what types of sample data scientists are interested in. I know there has certainly been a lot of push lately for in-situ sampling where the instrument that does the test and gives you data is actually onboard- this way the only thing you need to retrieve are bits of data!
It’s also pretty cool what kind of data can be extracted just from a camera. It’s possible to send image or even video data via the current Bristlemouth technology that exists, but it just takes some time to write the right software. That’s a project I’m very keen on advancing, so maybe I’ll make a separate forum post about that sometime soon. Keep in touch as your project develops, and don’t hesitate to post if you could use some help or ideas with any of it!
Hi,
It’d be an interesting problem to fabricate an onboard lab that could process samples during a mission. I wonder, tho, at this early stage of something like this, if it’d still be a good idea to figure out a way to return samples to the surface so that the onboard testing can be validated. I don’t know enough about them to know if that would be helpful at this point.
I have to say, I’ve always had an interest in how the guts of things work at the lower levels of the stack. A long long time ago, I was one of the folks that tested portions of the first ATM networks (around 1985, I think). Nothing like sitting in a room with racks of modems and plugging cables into them and then into a protocol analyzer. Geek heaven. What you brought up about carrying video data sounds like a lot of fun. I’m still kind of navigating my way around the documentation, but I’ll get there.
I’ll continue to post info about our project plans on the off chance that there might something there that might be useful to the overall effort. I’m just putting together the shopping list for our first submersible, just a very simple one to get started.
Ron
Hi there @Rongee and @estackpole , this is an amazing conversation here and I’m just butting in to suggest you guys make a separate topic on Projects to track of all the great details in these comments here! This topic will likely be getting more full with introductions in the next few weeks / months.
Looking forward to seeing where this goes!
Z
Hi Zack,
Thanks for butting in! I actually did start up a project under the projects area, but as I look at it, what happened is that I mistakenly put what I had to say under Eric’s project instead. I might be unclear as to how to start a new project topic. I’ll give it another try and maybe copy parts of this discussion there just to gather it all in one place. Eric’s been great about spending some time to talk with me about my project ideas. I’m certainly no expert.
Note: After I originally posted this, I went back over to the projects area and realized that it’s easy to start a new project; I just completely missed it. Duh.
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Hi, Peter McCarthy here – I am advising an early stage startup, LeVanta Tech, on system integration. We are going to be integrating Bristlemouth-enabled sensors and devices to float-and-fly drones that will be able to fly at aircraft speed, land on the ocean, float indefinitely, and then fly again at high speed.
LeVanta Tech is embracing a standards based architecture and approach to speed up innovation and acceptance. The Bristlemouth standard is ideally suited for supporting this goal. We are keen on actively integrating and collaborating with the Bristlemouth community.
Some of my selected achievements are:
• Member of the technical team for the 1992 winning America’s cup syndicate. Innovated data collection and analysis processes used in designing, building and testing of four (4) 75 foot carbon fiber racing sailboats in seventeen (17) months.
• Owned a consulting company that specialized in developing, assembling, testing, troubleshooting, mobilizing and sea trials of mechanical, electronic and computer prototypes, test systems and infrastructure for various marine industry sectors.
• As a contract ROV technician, provided world wide support to commercial diving contractors. Offered technical implementation and troubleshooting to both electric and hydraulic work class ROV systems. Specialized in jobs that were outside the customers’ core competencies.
If I could be in any movie it would have to be the James Bond Film “For Your Eyes Only” piloting a Mantis microsubmersible (which by the way could also be operated as an ROV).
I don’t know if everyone had a chance to see this thing but it’s really cool. @estackpole I bet you’d be excited to learn more about this.
Looking forward to hearing more about your project. We’re definitely interested in learning about what vehicle manufacturers need from Brisltemouth (I think we have an email chain / meeting scheduled to get into a little more detail later this week but I wanted to welcome you here as well!).
+1 for For Your Eyes Only but I think I would be on the business end of a crossbow too easily. I’m great henchperson material but I don’t think they end up well in that movie.
Hello everyone! We are Ellie, Brian, Kaitlyn, Huaimao and Josh. I’m posting here on behalf of my whole team. We are a group of five students studying electrical engineering at UC Santa Barbara. For our Senior Capstone Project, we’ve been sponsored by the UCSB Marine Science Institute to build on Bristlemouths’s standards and find a way to establish live video feed from a smart mooring to be viewed from shore. This challenge, and being on the forefront of Bristlemouth’s development, will be exciting! 
Our work has only just begun, but we’re glad to be able to share any ideas, breakthroughs, questions, or concerns with this community as our project develops.
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Welcome!
I’m looking forward to following this project.
I also want to tag in @estackpole and @evan so they can help out. I think we should get a “so you want to do video” post up at some point and they will need to help me with that one.
~Z
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Hi Everyone! I am Paul Clerkin. I am a PhD student at the Virginian Institute of Marine Science. I did my m.s. degree at Moss Landing studying deep-sea sharks in the Indian Ocean and I am working on my PhD now using eDNA and other methods to study sharks.
I am excited to use Bristlemouth to try to answer some of the many unknowns related to eDNA such as how long does eDNA stay in an area and what kinds of statements can we make from a detection event. There is a lot of work to be done on this front and I hope to contribute to our growing base of eDNA knowledge.
I would be Atreyu from the Never Ending Story.
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Hey Paul! Atreyu certainly had a grand adventure, but I think Falcore had more fun.
eDNA studies in marine environments seem to be one of the most energetically developing topics in this space. What particular projects are you hoping to do with Bristlemouth? It seems to me that the ability to rapidly exchange modular parts which is enabled by Bristlemouth could be helpful for iterative testing in the field. Is there any particular hardware you’re already working with? Glad to see you here on the BM Forums!
Eric
Paul! Welcome. It’s great to have you hear!