FPV Drone Recovery on Lake Superior + crash footage! | DIY ROV

A member of our local FPV group lost a quadcopter while flying over Black Beach on Lake Superior capturing #fallcolors. He reached out to the group asking if anyone had a way to get his SD card back so I decided to give it a go. Check it out!
Hardware improvements to make this easier in the future:
- Thrusters need to be at the balance point between CG and CB to prevent pitching on movement
- Improved gripper that can actually grasp things
Follow me on IG: / lucas.rov
Main song:
Lasting Hope by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Intro song:
Music from filmmusic.io
"Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)

[@NURKFPV]

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen.

[@lucasrov8044]

Hey thanks man, that means a lot coming from you! Missing any quads?

[@taattataattataattata]

Wow!

[@MrGaussFPV]

Riiight... I got a fresh build being preserved at the bottom of a little private lake. Wish I had something like this.

[@lucasrov8044]

Mr Gauss happen to know where in the lake it is? Depending on where you are and location certainty, I've been known to take roadtrips (this video happened because of one)

[@MrGaussFPV]

Oh yeah @@lucasrov8044 lol - it's right here in California. Just a hop, skip, and jump away 👌 Its not going anywhere lol. If you ever make it my way, I'd be happy to host ya 👊🤖

[@ontariodrone379]

Love the crystal clear footage. But...a diver in a dry suit could have done this for you. Though I'm sure the ROV was far more fun.

[@censrd]

Pretty sure at that distance from shore, just getting down to your shorts and diving in would have done the trick, especially water that clear. However I also agree using the ROV way more fun.

[@lucasrov8044]

That was attempted a number of times by multiple parties before I was called in with the ROV. They all failed because the water was too cold.

[@censrd]

@@lucasrov8044 and there you have the perfect situation for using the ROV. Good work.

[@judem8028]

It’s 3 am. I don’t fly drones nor do I pilot ROVs but dang this was satisfying. Good job

[@JacobScherer]

Holy cats that water is CLEAR!

[@lucasrov8044]

Clearest water I've explored so far!

[@thaddeusj83]

Yeah there are a few springs around the u.p. that have a little better clarity and a few springs lakes but out of the great lakes superior is the best imo and coldest haha

[@bikemike2777]

Thats awesome. Couldn't have happened in a better lake. Soo clear

[@pablofpv]

No quad left behind...! Virtual high 5!

[@brendonhunt668]

this is really cool .job well done and a happy ending

[@davdaya]

Cool .. tis is one cool rescued... thank god.. for someone like you.. 😆👍

[@danh4766]

You are lucky you had good visibility. Most recoveries I tried took awhile do to the silt stir up from the ROV thrusters. Good job.

[@DANKFPV]

Best recovery ever! FEAR NO LAKE🤜💥🤛

[@recognizelost]

This is awesome

[@SPAT]

Dude, this is awesome! Subbed up!

[@MrGaussFPV]

Bravo 👏👏👏 A kwad's best friend right there.

[@indroneswetrust1]

Good job for not giving up to get your ROV finally grab and secured it and you got it back! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 So happy for you dude!!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👊🏼

[@lucasrov8044]

Ha! Yeah there's justttt enough delay in the camera > screen > human > controller > motors feedback loop that precision operations like this can be a little maddening. I had also inadvertently swapped some of the controls and decided to tough it out vs fix the mapping on site. In hindsight, it would've helped a ton to fix that - you can see it in cases where it'd make sense to surface but I instead moved backwards - I wanted to do the former but the latter was what got commanded :/ lol

[@LavaRushHD]

Very cool recovery

[@Novafly]

Good job. Bro.

[@RCwithAdam1]

Way to go! Dedication! 👍👍 this actually inspires me to think about building submersibles!

[@lucasrov8044]

Glad you liked it! Let me know if questions come up on your journey - I'm happy to pass along the knowledge that might be helpful!

[@bikesuperstars7773]

My left ear really enjoyed that intro

incredible

[@TRITONFPV]

Sweet 🤙🏻

[@mikeallenfpv]

Really cool guys. I live near Lake Ontario/Erie and the water looks much cleaner on your end ;)

[@fpvunboxed5733]

With the number of water crashes I have had recently, think something like this may be my next investment.

[@lucasrov8044]

Depending on where you are in the world, confidence in the crash locations, and motivation to get them back, a road trip might make sense. Hit me up

[@benscott4367]

Dude, yes! I've been looking into building one of these. Couldn't justify 3k on a pre-built. This is awesome!

[@lucasrov8044]

Glad you like it! Going DIY doesn't really make it any cheaper (especially after including R&D) but it does make it more fulfilling. Also the commerical options didn't exist when I started so that made the decision "easier" (harder) then.

[@descoteaux100]

That's awesome good job! My buddy lost his quad last summer in 80 feet of water. I wanna build one of these to go get it this summer.

[@lucasrov8044]

Oh no! Where are you located? I've been known to do house calls

[@jimmyeagle2452]

More please!

[@droneandoworld84]

Muy buena recuperación amigo,que pasada de aparato el submarino.me suscribo al canal.es muy doloroso dejar el dron y la go pro en el agua yo alguno he dejado por ahí....un saludo.

[@meulaso3660]

Beautiful location for a kwad crash hahahah. I would go diving hahahahhaha.

[@DanZfpv]

Oh man. I wish I had one of these submersibles. I lost one in lake michigan flying around a sailboat. The footage was epic. Wish I could get my hands on that card.

[@lucasrov8044]

Oh no! Happen to know where it went in and the depth?

[@DanZfpv]

@@lucasrov8044 more or less. And it’s likely 20-60ft deep.

[@lucasrov8044]

Shoot me a DM, I might need an excuse for a roadtrip

[@alexomarwright]

what survived? I see you have a air unit on it. So at least 400 worth of quad there.

[@lucasrov8044]

Air unit was toast unfortunately. Brushless motors do pretty well in fresh water, only issue I saw was lots of little iron specks attracted to the magnets.

[@jameshaydon4510]

Nice i was just flying there a couple days ago!

[@lucasrov8044]

Such a gorgeous place. It was fairly busy for me so only got one quad pack in that day.

[@jameshaydon4510]

@@lucasrov8044 if you get up that way again you should check out pellet island its a chore to get out to and the ladder is a bit janky but the cliff dives were amazing

[@thijshuiberts2604]

I have been looking on the internet for inspiration to build one of these and this one is my favorite by far! do you have any build plans for it? Or anything I can work with to build my own?

[@ShamblerDK]

Suddenly: "Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?"

[@shravanpoovaiah9329]

Could you please make a video explaining how you built this

[@krtmrfl]

Sir, what kind of camera did you use to have real-time vision underwater?

[@forrestallison1879]

Did you oil fill that servo yourself? Does that method work well?

[@swenorth]

what claw you use ?

[@blithen]

what the HECK IS THIS!!! I NEED ONE!!!

[@aaronanthonymoat]

You know I see so many ROVs trying to grab things when a simple bar bent upwards would work easier me thinks. Now I can't say I've tried it but be interesting to compare. Nice ROV though

[@lucasrov8044]

Yeah it seems like a simple solution until diving into the considerations and constraints required for grabbing stuff. The primary goal of any dive is getting the expensive robot back safely, which means contingencies are engineered into every solution. With that in mind, any bar with enough of a hook to secure something is also enough to get snagged with no easy way to unhook again. Often I don't know what the object is I'm going to be grabbing or it's orientation. These considerations, combined with the difficulties of precision operations underwater (currents, control feedback latency, etc), means a gripper arm often IS the simpliest option that fulfills the requirements. The Curiosity and Perserverance Mars rovers went through a similar dialog when the rocket-powered skycrane / "7 minutes of terror" architecture was first developed too.

[@dronepilot1333]

Very cool. How deep is this lake?

[@lucasrov8044]

Lake Superior has some spots deeper than 1000ft, average depth is around 500 IIRC. This was just offshore so far shallower than that.

[@PauloHenrique-qk8je]

muito legal esse seu rov, vc que fez??

[@BlackBirdFPV]

Thats AWESOME

[@lucasrov8044]

Thanks! Underwater exploration is addicting!

[@user-oz6oq8cl5x]

Why not see you cuadcopter in deep water at first seconds

[@maceliusfpv370]

Nice piloting. Nothing like using your unmanned submersible vehicle to retrieve your unmanned aerial vehicle. XD

[@lucasrov8044]

Thanks! I've found a fair amount of interest from the local fpv community in retrieving more sunken quads going forward.

[@alexanderramos871]

Did air unit survive?

[@lucasrov8044]

Nope, unsurprisingly it was toast :(

[@hugo5149]

Varg music? Nice

[@robofpv6241]

what was the total damage on the quadcopter? Luckily it was freshwater.

[@lucasrov8044]

Electronics were all toast except for the GoPro. Motors survived with some cleaning. Frame was g2g with just some rusty screws.

[@robofpv6241]

@@lucasrov8044 well...atleast the GoPro survived. How many days was in underwater for? Good to see you recovered the quadcopter though. And thanks for the upload!

[@lucasrov8044]

It was underwater about a week and a half. Glad you liked it!

[@shearfury147]

where on lake superior. i live an hour from superior wi

[@lucasrov8044]

Black Beach in Silver Bay!

[@shearfury147]

@@lucasrov8044 i just live in cable wi south of superior, cheers neighbor. keep flying and diving my man. my cousin and i have a little quad club and fly all the time. if ever your looking for other pilots look us up we both have channels.

[@lucasrov8044]

I'm actually in Minneapolis but took a trip up to grab the quad. I'll hit you up if I'm coming up again and go fly. Either way, send me your channels, Id love to check 'em out!

[@shearfury147]

@@lucasrov8044 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJyVpJaGpc95jac

[@shearfury147]

@@lucasrov8044 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rau1p4Orr56Uors

[@andrewheitmann1796]

What kind of video system does it use?

[@lucasrov8044]

Onboard is a 2MP board cam that is sent over the ethernet connection via the tether and I view and record it with either a laptop or FPV goggles

[@andrewheitmann1796]

@@lucasrov8044 ohhh sick yeah I realize now it connected by a wire a was really confused because I thought 5.8ghz couldn't go through water well

[@lucasrov8044]

That is correct, it doesn't lol. Most see the tether as a detriment but it comes in handy to ensure recovery if there's an equipment failure (dead battery, control lockup, water leakage, loss of buoyancy, etc).

[@wakrebegaming7242]

Wow, it's cool under the sea too, don't forget to stop by the Arman Sobary channel

[@ron7979]

lol is it just me or is that water so shallow you could just dive down and get it??? pretty sure my watch is rated for deeper than that, just saying, not hating on anyone

[@lucasrov8044]

You are right, it was shallow and certainly could be dove instead, the catch is that lake's water temp is quite chilly and in fact a couple swim attempts before me failed because of it. Plus, running the ROV with a specific mission is far more challenging than just random exploration and it was a great excuse to work on my skillset

[@ron7979]

@@lucasrov8044 indeed mate as I said not hating on any one, we all think about doing things differently, stay safe

[@lucasrov8044]

Totally get it. I love talking and answering questions about it so ask away!

[@divingfalconfpv4602]

Did he buy the submarine just to get the quad

[@lucasrov8044]

No, designing, building, and improving it has been one of my hobbies for 14ish years now

[@ryanlacey9421]

Worlds hardest claw machine

[@lucasrov8044]

😂

[@nozty]

Do you have an fpv channel as well?

[@lucasrov8044]

I have a playlist with some quadcopter and wing stuff but this is my main focus

[@ToyTank]

DRBR

[@pekelosilveirajr7461]

Pilot error lol

[@cullenfleming]

Wow didn’t realize my piloting fail would result in a somewhat viral video😂

[@lucasrov8044]

I told ya there would be interest!

[@ror-ys3qp]

grab the motor

[@lucasrov8044]

Ha! I tried, gripper servo was in the way so couldn't get the right angle on it

[@keitharoo1962]

Now I just gotta save up thousands of dollars for one of them there underwater drone grabber thingies.

[@lucasrov8044]

I've been known to take road trips if there's a need :)

[@keitharoo1962]

@@lucasrov8044 LOL Thanks. I'll definitely keep that in mind. That will be my Plan B. :)

[@Jronesfpv]

or you could just swim out there and grab it with your toes lolz but cool!

[@lucasrov8044]

There were multiple swimming attempts to get it before I was called in - they failed because the water was too cold. And it was still 20 ft down, not quite a toe-grabber!

[@stepfpv]

рыбку, рубку не задави)

[@PauloHenrique-qk8je]

very cool this rov, u did it ??

[@lucasrov8044]

Yep, it has been a life-long passion project. One perspective that drives me is getting to explore places where fewer humans have seen than have walked on the moon.

[@PauloHenrique-qk8je]

@@lucasrov8044 I agree with you, it was very good, could you help me make one for me? I wanted help on the electronics side.

[@lucasrov8044]

homebuiltrovs.com has lots of info both in the articles and the forum. What are you stuck on?

[@PauloHenrique-qk8je]

I'll look, I'm creating a project for a rov to sell, a cheaper version and with a good cost benefit, I'm doing some research and yours is very good.

[@ror-ys3qp]

this could be a full time job..

[@lucasrov8044]

It's on the shortlist if my current career path dries up! Lol

[@antontrio6517]

one Meter deep, and you need a waterdrone? realy

[@lucasrov8044]

There were multiple swimming attempts to get it before I was called in - they failed because the water was too cold. And depth was 6 meters

[@engineerfpv]

So am I the only one that has always diving goggles in my car?

[@lucasrov8044]

The water was cold enough that the swimming retrieval attempts all failed before I got called in

[@engineerfpv]

@@lucasrov8044 imagine how cold the water was

[@lucasrov8044]

@@engineerfpv are you asking what the temp was? I'll see if I still have the dive telemetry log, it should be in there.

[@engineerfpv]

@@lucasrov8044 yeahh. and i cannot thing of another way to grap the quad. that grip took you really long to make it possible to grap. If it wasn't about the leads coming out you will had harder time getting it. I cannot really come up with an idea though

[@lucasrov8044]

Yeah the biggest takeaway from this was need more gripping ability. It's just a cheap intro-to-robotics grade gripper, I originally got it for proving out my servo waterproofing technique and haven't swapped it for a better one yet. I liked the parallel design since there's a larger surface area to potentially grab something but in practice a more conventional pivoting gripper will be better. In this case I did have the battery leads on the list of likely lifting areas, along with the camera mount, and around a motor/prop/arm. You can see in the vid where the servo gets in the way of trying to grab an arm. An improved gripper is in the works!

[@samsegars8047]

hey you can't park there

[@prudhviedits3480]

It is fake you only through your drone and you only caught the drone

[@flyingmonkey8245]

F