Underwater drone startup OpenROV has shown off its blazingly fast exploration robot Trident, which it claims to be as snappy as Michael Phelps.
This underwater drone, equipped with an HD camera and a remote control, is OpenROV's quickest underwater robot to date.
David Lang and Eric Stackpole, cofounders of the startup, claim Trident is as fast as Michael Phelps, who logged a speed of 4.4 mph, given his record of 50.77 seconds in 100 meters.
OpenROV also touts Trident can dive up to 100 meters deep. The deepest part of the ocean is 11,033 meters under the surface.
At the moment, Trident is available on Kickstarter. In fact, OpenROV is about to close its crowdfunding campaign in a few hours. Trident has already garnered $809,184 as of press time.
Gold Under the Sea
In 2011, Stackpole and Lang started the idea of building an underwater robot upon hearing speculations of gold buried inside an underwater cave in Northern California.
"We never found gold in that underwater cave," admits Lang. "We never really thought we would."
Open-Source Software
Trident works in tandem with an open-source application that permits pilots to manage the underwater robot from a virtual cockpit with the use of laptops, tablets or smartphones.
Lang says they have designed a prototype virtual reality cockpit akin to the one in "Iron Man" or "Minority Report."
Interestingly, it can also work with a gaming controller, such as a PlayStation controller, connected to a PC monitor.
What is great with this underwater drone is its capacity to stream live video to a monitor during a particular exploration.
Precision Maneuvers
Perhaps one of its selling points is its capability for precision maneuvers. Apart from the ability to swim in lengthy, straight lines called "transects," it can also move in tight spaces.
Trident boasts of the ability to change its depth or direction quickly. It can likewise stop at exactly where the user wants it to.
This sleek underwater drone, according to Lang, can be specifically beneficial in the classroom.
"Imagine a teacher in the future using this in class and all kids can put on their Google VR headsets and see different things around the ocean," said Lang.
