I have to make the control system for an underwater ROV as part of a school project and am quite new to Arduinos. The power supply has to stay out of the water with the control panel. It has to be joystick controlled from the control panel out of the water and has a tether to the Rov. There will also be a camera on the ROV that will go to the control panel. Finally, I need to be able to use a claw to grab something.
The tether I have been given consists of 3x4 core alarm cables, but I'm not sure if this will be able to do everything it needs to do.
The school has a number of Arduino starter kits that I have access to but I am not sure where to start and what I need.
I was thinking of having 2 different Arduinos, 1 on the ROV and 1 in the control panel, as well as having a sensor on the bottom that turns on some propellers to stop the ROV from hitting the ground. I'm not sure if having 2 Arduinos would work or be beneficial. I'm also not sure of what other parts I would need to get the Arduino's to control the propellers, claw, and everything else as well as code.
My group has a relatively small budget but we could get something if it's necessary.
I have to make the control system for an underwater ROV
Does the ROV exist? I'd imagine designing and building such a thing is not too simple a beginner project, what with buoyancy to contend with to get the thing to go down and up.
There will also be a camera on the ROV that will go to the control panel. Finally, I need to be able to use a claw to grab something.
Presumably the camera will have a screen so you can see the grab and the target. I have (literally) no experience in video, but if you're expecting the Arduino to play a role in the vision side of things, from what I've seen on this forum "Arduino" and "video" do not belong in the same sentence.
Or is the idea to connect the camera to a screen just as one might with (say) a home security system showing you who's at the door? (No Arduino there, but presumably some interface between the camera and the screen.)
Start off by telling us what you have now. Does the ROV exist or do you at least have detailed plans for it?
Exactly what motors and other controls does/will it have? How big is it? What camera and screen are you using? The camera will need its own electronics to communicate with the monitor/screen, an Arduino won't do it.
Easiest is probably to have an Arduino at each end. Then you can send relatively simple commands to the ROV and the Arduino at that end can do the translation into the detailed motor/servo codes.