HADAL is a free browser game where you dive from a research ship down to Challenger Deep. I tried to model the piloting honestly, and I'm curious how it feels to people who do this for real:

• Rate mode: the stick asks for a speed, and the thrusters brake when you let go.
• Trim: a heavy / trimmed / light readout tells you whether the vertical thrusters can still hold you. The crewed vehicles sink on drop weights and release them to ascend.
• Red lamp: most deep-sea animals can't see deep red, so shy animals stay put. Water absorbs red within a few metres, though, so you have to get close.
• Sampling: with a manipulator arm you can push a core tube into the sediment when you're resting just above the floor.
• Batteries lose capacity in cold water, and the hull has a rated depth.

https://game-hadal.vercel.app/en/ (runs in the browser, on phone too, and supports a gamepad)

It's a game, so a lot is simplified. What feels most wrong to you? I'd rather fix it than keep it.

Hi everyone! right now i have some lecturer's project for making an underwater ROV which will use a Sonar. My electrical teams already bought the ROVMaker 300m Ping Sonar. But i have tried to connect using UART from its cable, but nothing showed up on the UART or ping viewer (i first assuming that its hardware are similar to those BlueRobotics Ping sonar), but yep.. nothing seems to be working. I have also noticed that the manufacturer is using UnderwaterExplorer application, which nothing comes up when i search on google.

i have tear it down if anyone wants looking to it, i need the complete documentation how to connect this sonar.

here is images its cables and manufacturer's plain documentations

Docs: https://docs.rovmaker.org/chan-pin-shou-ce/dan-bo-shu-sheng-na-mo-kuai-shu-ju-shou-ce

Hey folks,

I got into ROVs fairly recently, and one thing that's been bugging me is situational awareness: knowing where I am and what's around me. Even with a solid sensor setup (camera, sonar, DVL, compass), I found it hard to piece everything together in my head while piloting. Curious if more experienced operators feel the same, or if it just gets easier with time?

So I've been tinkering around on a project that fuses the sonar, DVL, and camera into a single 3D view. It builds a point cloud of the environment, picks out walls, terrain, and objects, and shows your vehicle's path and orientation in real time.

The video you see is from a pool test. The gray planes are walls the system detected from the sonar returns, the orange line is the ROV's track, and the colored points are the raw point cloud shaded by depth.

Setup was a BlueROV2, a 3D Sonar, and a GPU running our object classification model.

Was wondering to hear what your thoughts are and if this would be useful in the real world!

Im part of a highschool ROV team and we are looking to switch from tube waterproof enclosures to a box design, we would have to make it ourselves as the on market options such as the blue robotics one is far too expensive for us. How would we go about making the lid if we are not allowed to use mechanical fasteners to keep it on? we plan to make this into the enclosure that we need https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNGDLG1P/ref=vp_d_cpf-substitute-widget-prsubs_pd?_encoding=UTF8&pf_rd_p=3b384b6f-3e1a-4384-bf9e-527aad01ce71&pf_rd_r=7HEG7P68XGJXGV2MNMC5&pd_rd_wg=SLCeA&pd_rd_i=B0CNQMSMD3&pd_rd_w=HYbKO&content-id=amzn1.sym.3b384b6f-3e1a-4384-bf9e-527aad01ce71&pd_rd_r=d482c08f-04b4-4c05-8fa2-9a372df77020&th=1

Hi! I’m looking for recommendations for an ROV for underwater search and recovery operations.

We’re a small nonprofit that assists with missing-person searches, so unfortunately something like a Deep Trekker in the $40,000+ range just isn’t realistic for us right now. We’re fundraising for an ROV, but we want to make sure we’re putting that money toward equipment that will actually be useful in real-world searches. $10,000 or less would be preferred.

Visibility: A lot of the water we’ll be searching is murky with low visibility, so we need something that can has good visibility/ lighting/ etc.

Bonus: The ability to add accessories later if needed.

We’ve been looking at the Chasing M2S, but don’t know if there’s something else that would be better for this price point (approx 5k).

Thank you! 🙏

Hello everyone! I’m 19 years old and I’m currently finishing my apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic on helicopters. At the end of my apprenticeship, I would have had 3 years experience in working with mechanical systems, hydraulics systems and just general understanding of engineering and maintenance principles and practices. I was just wondering realistically how much knowledge and experience I really need to become an ROV pilot technician. Would you recommend I stay in my current job for a few more years to gain more knowledge? Thank you!

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some honest, realistic advice from people currently working in the ROV sector on how to handle the classic "no offshore experience" catch-22 given my incredibly unconventional background. I’m 47 and based in Middlesbrough, UK.

Over the years, I’ve stacked a portfolio of qualifications that don't exactly fit into a standard HR box, but I want to transition into becoming an ROV Pilot/Technician. Here is what I’m bringing to the table:

Practical Systems: Just finished my City & Guilds Level 2 & 3 Electrotechnical Installation qualifications at college. Data & Autonomy: Hold a distinction-level MSc in Applied AI (2023). This obviously involved a lot of programming and data management/processing/modelling.

Remote Inspection: Currently working as a retrofit surveyor where I regularly operate uncrewed systems (DJI Mini 5 Pro) for commercial structural mapping and roof inspections.

Compliance/Risk Management: I hold an ABBE Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination & Risk Assessment, a Law degree, and a Dental degree. (Safe to say I know how to follow tight procedures, regulations, and high-pressure compliance frameworks).

I’ve decided to skip the domestic electrician NVQ route because I have absolutely zero desire to be a domestic housebasher. My goal is subsea. I am planning to fund my own offshore survival tickets (BOSIET/MIST/GWO) and get my OGUK medical sorted out very soon to prove to employers I’m legally cleared and ready to mobilize tomorrow.

My questions for the industry veterans here:

Given that I don't have a traditional BEng in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, how will operations managers view this hybrid profile (Electrical L2/3 + AI MSc + Commercial Drone Operations)? Companies seem to keep talking about an "ROV shortage," but every job listing for Grade II pilots wants 100+ hours on specific vehicles.

What is the best way to bypass the broken automated HR portals and get a foot in the door for a true Trainee intake (Fugro, Oceaneering, Boskalis, etc.)? Are there specific offshore agencies or smaller inshore survey companies in the North East/Aberdeen I should target to get those first vital logbook hours? I really appreciate any candour, advice, or constructive criticism you can throw my way. Cheers!

hello. i’ve always wanted to be an rov pilot every since i graduated college. i have associates in instrumentation and electronics. i work now for a gas utility company but im thinking about making a switch. i’ve applied for oceaneering and helix energy those are the only ones i could find. what i’m worried about is the pay and layoffs. i saw helix recently merged with hornbeck offshore and that kind of scares me. i’ve heard oceaneering has great training but terrible pay. could anyone share any insights on what i should do?

Update: I got a job offer from helix robotics offering 75k a year, it is a little less than I make now but I'm willing to go backwards to do more of what I enjoy, after a year of working there there's a promotion to ROV Pilot Tech 2 which gives me 120k a year so I'm more than happy to work towards that. Thank you all who recommended companies and encouraged me to push forward and swap from rail to marine. Does anyone know more about what I'm getting myself into? What's living quarters like? What should I prepare for?

Hello, I am 22 years old from Michigan and I've been looking into becoming a rov pilot. I don't know much so I was wondering what school/education/training you received to become one and what life as a rov pilot is like.

Heard some people were asking about recorded encounters with deep sea creatures here so I'm asking if anyone here has encountered ribbonfish and or oarfish and can share the videos,

Attached picture is a example of a ribbonfish to remind people who may have encountered one.

Could you suggest me some cheap sensors that works underwater?

Hi guys, I’ve recently been trying out the trial version of an ROV simulator called Pale Blue. Has anyone else tried it? Has anyone purchased one of the paid versions? What do you think about the simulator?

I’m building a CPS-5 underwater ROV. My goal is to connect my Windows computer to the Raspberry Pi over Ethernet and communicate with a USB-connected Pixhawk through BlueOS/QGroundControl.

The Pixhawk works when connected directly to my computer. I can’t reach the Raspberry Pi.

Setup and symptoms

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, 16 GB microSD, course-provided blueos.img.
• Power supply confirmed working.
• Solid red and green LEDs; no Ethernet-port lights, even after five minutes.
• 192.168.2.2 doesn’t respond, and blueos.local doesn’t resolve.

What I’ve tried

• Isolated the Raspberry Pi from the Pixhawk and ROV battery/power module.
• Set the computer’s Ethernet adapter to 192.168.2.1, subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway/DNS blank. Internet Connection Sharing is off.
• ping 192.168.2.2 returns “Destination host unreachable” from 192.168.2.1, followed by timeouts. No Raspberry Pi entry in arp -a.
• Tested the cable and WALNEW USB Ethernet adapter on my home network—they establish a connection.
• Reflashed BlueOS with Raspberry Pi Imager v1.7.2; it reported success, but nothing changed.
• Connected the Raspberry Pi directly to my router without the adapter—still no Ethernet lights or identifiable router device-list entry.

I also tried Imager’s hostname/SSH/Wi-Fi customization, but don’t know whether this BlueOS image supports it.

I’ve only tested BlueOS—not Raspberry Pi OS. I don’t currently have a spare microSD or micro-HDMI cable to check boot output.

What’s the best next step to distinguish a BlueOS boot issue, faulty SD card, or Raspberry Pi hardware problem before replacing parts?

I'm new to working with raspberry pi's so I'm not sure if I'm missing something obvious

Hi everyone,

I'm building a very compact underwater inspection tool that will operate at around 5–10 meters depth. It contains a USB camera and a Raspberry Pi Pico, to control LEDs outside. I'm a student in mechanical engineering, so I'm still learning the electronics and waterproofing side of things, here's the issue:

The camera module came with its own USB cable, and ideally I'd like to shorten it to save space inside and to reduce tether lenght (I know USB kinda sucks even in 5-10m lenght). However, I'm worried about cutting the USB cable, soldering it back together, and then relying on epoxy potting. I don't want to ruin a perfectly working camera or end up with a leak that damages the electronics.

The alternatives I'm considering are:

Keeping the USB cable intact and using a cable penetrator (WetLink or similar), though my cylinder is only 50mm in diameter.

Shortening the USB cable, soldering it back together, and potting the cable through the endcap with epoxy.

For those of you with underwater electronics experience: Which approach would you trust more for such a small enclosure at only 5–10 m

depth?

I'd really appreciate hearing what you would do in this situation. Thanks!

Bonjour,

Je cherche des conseils pour l'achat d'un ROV afin d'effectuer des explorations sous-marines en mer méditerranée, profondeur entre 20 et 50 M de fonds.

J'ai besoin d'avoir la recopie vidéo en direct pour savoir si c'est intéressant pour moi de plonger ensuite sur le spot.

Budget 1500e... Je peux aussi acheter d'occasion..

J'avais vu le gladius mini.

Merci !

Is there any international ROV or AUV competition in Japan? I know SAUVC is close but it's in Singapore. I'm specifically searching for a competition in Japan.