Making an RC Submarine

Here's how I built an RC submarine from a drink bottle! Join me and a community of 8 million learners and educators today, visit brilliant.org/ProjectAir
DIY Perks' Video
Make sure to watch DIY Perks' video showing you how he built his advanced depth-control submarine here! • Building a DIY submarine
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Big thanks to Andrew Applepie for the music used in this video - / andrewapplepie
DISCLAIMER: This video is purely for entertainment value. Personal use of video content is at your own risk. Recreations of experiments, activities and projects are the sole legal responsibility of the person(s) involved in replicating them. I can not be liable for any information or misinformation, wrongful use, damage to personal property, death or any circumstances that result from replication of any projects seen. Be safe!

[@integza]

In Portugal we waterproof all our food

[@Project-Air]

Do you bother with tomatoes though? Surely they just go straight in the bin 🗑

[@vinayakk2745]

How does integza's 2 day old comment have only 12 likes!?

[@ryanrenolds]

@@vinayakk2745 how does project airs 4 month old comment only have 12 likes?

[@ryanrenolds]

@Camaro & Joca because I like his old videos what the fuck

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@Integza >>> Instead of sealing your servos with _olive oil,_ do you use _tomato paste?_ 😊😊😊

[@Backyard.Ballistics]

At this point you may want to start a series called "Project WATER". Well done by the way 👍

[@Project-Air]

Guess it's really Project Land, Sea, Air ;) Cheers dude

[@CHECHNYA3017]

@@Project-Air LOL!

[@tictacturkey3367]

Yes we definitely need a part 2. I can see there are many improvements that could be made into a whole new video.

[@jacksonp8587]

Let’s see the sub launch a rocket

[@bossmama1830]

@@jacksonp8587 FIRE ZE TORPEDO!

[@agepbiz]

Great project! I like the small size of the sub

[@MaulanaBagus_]

Yeah

[@Project-Air]

It'll be handy for exploring tight spaces!

[@michiganengineer8621]

@Dave Doherty A pulse jet powered submarine powered by... . . . . TOMATOES!

[@greggv8]

@@Project-Air The simplest way to eliminate water slosh upsetting the balance is to fill the water bottle with sponge. It will absorb the water and what does pool in the bottom won't be able to move fore and aft.

[@thatguyalex2835]

@@Project-Air Your submarine reminds me of the one made by Brick Experiment Channel, cos it is made using everyday household components. :) I like this ingenuity. 10/10

[@jocax188723]

Ah, I’ve been looking forward to this since DIYPerk’s video.

[@charliefrater7143]

I loved this video as well as DIY perk's video. You guys are the perfect duo! Nice work James, keep motoring on!

[@Project-Air]

Thanks Charlie! We had fun working together. It won’t be the last time 👍

[@BarrettCharlebois]

That magnet switch that your buddy had at around 3 mins is blew my mind it was pretty nifty

[@garrettscott4094]

I saw the "Pipe Bomb" that Matt made. It was truly amazing, but I love the simplicity of your overall design. Great work!

[@user-xg8it5sq6q]

Pretty much everything you build looks like a piece of art.

[@pipa1556]

put 5 lego minifigs inside

[@kwaaaa]

The collab I didn't realize I needed in my life! Awesome content between the two of you. I love how the two of you approach the challenge so differently.

[@yourniceneighbourhoodcat2156]

*looks at your name *looks at the title Me:something’s wrong, I can feel it

[@1.4142]

Pressurized air used to control the sub

[@AlenHR]

This is so cool. Was thinking a lot about building an FPV sub. And I run into same problems with water and data transfer in my head. I would try and just expose antenna to the air on a really small and light floater using very thin wire. Tangling could be a problem in that case, so I thought about some sort of antenna wire tension/retraction system. Not sure if there are antenna wire length-related problems, tho. Also, 3rd motor oriented to up/down axis and with some pitch control would give it much more maneuverability and control in tight spaces. And could compensate for most of the boyuancy problems.

[@Turt3zyKSP]

another amazing video! and a great explanation of concepts related to the submarine! quite the interesting method of waterproofing lol

[@seasnek7024]

Absolutely love this idea. Now I want to build this myself!

[@grahammcnally4799]

Very cool project! I love the underwater cameras because the of the shelf ones are so expensive. A bottom scouring drone finding buried treasures seems appealing to me. Nice work as always.

[@mikelarin8037]

Great project. I always enjoy your builds and hope they all make a second showing.

[@josephhill5453]

I like It! Its always been a childhood dream to make a submarine im glad to see you and diy perks have done that

[@StormBurnX]

As I mentioned on Matt's video: I love the designs and can't wait for someone to inevitably come up with a truly wireless control system for subs :)

[@nou5440]

sonar might work well for a few hundred meters until it becomes laggy

[@StormBurnX]

@@nou5440 I've seen some experimentation for ultrasonic used for communications so I'm definitely curious if that would work reliably in their small creeks/ponds

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

@@nou5440 I've often thought about this. Problem is, there'd be no way to get video back.

[@terencedodson9131]

I was looking for this like 2 hours ago. Nice upload!

[@arnavsharma3471]

Can't wait to see Part-2 of it!!

[@TheHuizenre]

To see how a simple design can succeed is amazing. Thanks. And you can prevent the water tilting your bottle by prefilling the bottle with cotton wool. Wishing you great success with future plans and your channel.

[@OpreanMircea]

DIY perks is epic, I'm so glad you 2 did a colab

[@talisman3d595]

Really satisfying seeing you iterate a design. X-4A looks and performs great

[@seafood459]

Dude, your content is amazing! Keep up the good work! What a nice surprise to see two of my favorite youtubers in a colab! Cheers 🍻

[@evandotpro]

Great work! Really interested to see if you find any success with the low frequency stuff. I've heard you can "potentially" get up to 30-40m in fresh water for basic controls with the right conditions at 27/40mhz. Video transmission may prove to be much more difficult or perhaps simply limited by bandwidth and/or physics, but I'd love to see your results regardless! (btw there's no link to Matt/DIY Perks video in the description as of writing this comment)

[@phillipbotero7505]

Great video! Add a 'trailing floating wire antenna" for the RC TX/RX. Make it buoyant and long and some portion of it will float on the surface, even when at depth. (BTW, That's what real submarines do)

[@VitruvianAlgo]

this is a good idea. plus sub marines arent designed to move fast

[@raptorsaurusrex2242]

Taking building a ship in a bottle to a whole new level!!! Love it!!

[@_spartan11796]

Had a feeling this video was coming. Supercool!

[@ThatDev81]

Ive Watched lots of these kind of vids But I've never seen someone so entertaining the sad thing is not that many people watch him as he deserves Respect to this man keep up the good work 💪

[@sebastiangregoroff3370]

Nice project ! Thanks for sharing !

[@DIYwithBatteries]

That's awesome bro make with PVC pipe 👍

[@diveguy1144]

Definitely want part 2!!

[@luxlucet-4]

I love this video would love to see you improve for deeper dives and more controllability. Would love more details on the build also so I could build myself at home.

[@josepaniagua914]

I'm excited, been waiting for this!!!

[@GeoffTV2]

Aha! well it's good to see the companion video. I came in from the DIY Perks video. Great builds both. I'm amazed at how you waterproofed the RC gear, I've not seen that done before. Although DIY Perks' sub is a bit 'pro' in comparison, I really like your sub too because it looks a bit more within reach of my skills. Nice job, thanks for sharing.

[@Daniel-hg2rq]

Immediately after watching Matt's video I came to your channel, didn't see any thing related😞, since then I've been expecting yours. This is very nice, expecting a 2nd part.

[@thebeanberas9564]

Can you make some sort of a autonomous vehicle for your next video?

[@Sybertek]

Can't wait to see how you and DIY perks face off with the subs!

[@batman4ever666]

Thanks for the video!

[@TNB-d7e]

Amazing project

[@RhythmicEye]

Nice work!

[@5alm0n]

I really thought this time having a submarine you would be wearing welly’s when testing. Great video once again !!

[@RandomBogey]

Finally. After all the teasing, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this forever...

[@Project-Air]

Hopefully worth the wait!

[@piconano]

Love your content. I've binge-watched all your videos.

[@hakachukai]

The trick to low frequency data transmission ( for the video ) is that you have to broadcast the data over a spectrum of frequencies because the max data rate will always be frequency/2. So basically you end up transmitting 1/10th of the data on each frequency, but you transmit on 10 different LF frequencies and recombine the signal at the receiver. I don't know for sure, but I think that the Navy uses a lot LF transmissions for underwater coms.

[@lyre301]

I followed you through the diy perks channel. Both you and his projects are very good!

[@Sybertek]

Love the Missive song at the start of the video. Wish more people used it.

[@EdwardChew]

Looking forward to part 2

[@ZukunftBilden]

Just came from DIY Perks. That was awesome!

[@DannymotoEvering]

These videos you create are incredible🤔🙌🏽❤

[@BDtechOne]

Brother..... I like your project 👍👍👍

[@haydencaryofilles6379]

I subscribed when you started your ejection seat series and I am still waiting for the final episode. I would love to see it :)

[@TheDrakenZ]

I saw you on DIY Perks, and subbed to you, you're a champion! look forward to seeing future projects.

[@Project-Air]

Thanks!

[@PartsnPixels]

This is so cool! I plan on building one of these myself...

[@Morggin]

DIY Perks sent me here! I love the collaboration you guys did!

[@salamdurum8568]

Keep up the great work!

[@Studeza]

I love your videos and creativity😀

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic work, James! Nicely done!!! 😃 To tell the truth I really liked the first version! As soon as I can I'm going to try it out! 😃 I guess the issue was that the wires were too thick... But if the battery and escs stayed with the submarine it would've worked much better! Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@user-hs3dg8jy3t]

Love this!

[@HH-xf9il]

LOVE THIS !!!

[@OliversAviationvideo]

Great project. I hope we see more

[@Cracked_Spearfishing]

wow that's cool you need to do a part 2

[@maisaanmufeed438]

FINALLLYYYYY, IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS LIKE FOREVEERR

[@deshandewas9317]

DIY Perks introduce you. Well done, Great

[@truebark3329]

Okay I have waited enough for this

[@xarlixe7565]

Amazing video and skills : )

[@CBAR]

that collab broght me to you in the first place :D awesome and i m glad i found you

[@AtomThePeoplesChamp]

Nice keep it up!

[@eryton1899]

fantastic content as always

[@mvrckstudios1725]

That's so cool

[@cxob2134]

Yay another submarine video!

[@JadzCraftsInvention]

WOW that's impressive I love this video

[@Latchfpv]

I was waiting for this video after seeing the one over at DIY Perks, and well it does not disappoint. Hopefully you can get a better receiver/transmitter situation going on so you can really stretch the legs on this beauty.

[@simonc3443]

We love this video. Please make another submarine. Cheers, Sam

[@janhumpolicek8373]

ProjectAir: submarine

[@piconano]

There was air in those syringes.

[@mehmetsar1456]

SubmAirine

[@richard--s]

There was lots of air involved 😁 A great project for this channel.

[@nemod3338]

And after you are done diving you can have your afternoon tea. Marvellous.

[@don_pavlov]

Just subscribed because of this. Keep it up. Improve it. Will be great to see something working reliably.

[@tofuissad947]

U finally did it

[@Fishionista69]

Cool!

[@pontuswendt2486]

AMAZINGNES!!! Wohooooooo!!!!

[@MrRHARRISO]

Love it

[@eddieguyvh4765]

If you want it to go deeper tan a meter or two, it will need to be tethered. Or you could use something using sound as a transmission medium, but I don't think a lot of people managed to do that... Great job

[@alooff5317]

Maybe if you stuff the bottle with sponge water wouldn't slush around much. Also what frequency does commercial rc sub use ?

[@sabelodavhana1057]

Can’t wait for the next video

[@Vinz84]

Awesome

[@jakhazardzn9862]

40mhz :). Epic video dude !!

[@michelappriou5642]

Cool !!!

[@odash5831]

Love this! But I have a couple of ideas, firstly for low frequency control getting an older JR or Futaba radio will be by far your best bet as they are module based and just as programmable as modern stuff. But for your sloshing my suggestion would be to try and fit a set of baffles within the bottle, no clue how, but that would vastly limit the effect the water's movement has on the sub's movement.

[@fishtas]

Love the content man, just subscribed!

[@neilgillies6943]

Great project! How about a simple floating pod with all the avionics (2.4GHz ok :) - then a long _thin_ umbilical down to the craft? This would be similar to the Nemo dive system - a 9m deep battery powered scuba system - only it uses an air pipe instead of the cable :-) The craft should easily pull the pod along.

[@youkofoxy]

Humm... I didn't thought about the sloshing water, I did for the cable, it was huge. Some notes. For water sloshing, have you considered using foam or a more dense than air material that can be fixed? I also thought about peristaltic pump and a bladder for better buoyancy control, for Diy perk's sub, turns out I wasn't analyzing his project correctly again. On communications, a thin USB cable could be a decent tender. However I would consider just a long antenna cable attach to a buoy. My thought being, just use a long wire, however it has problems with impedance, so just a long coaxial cable sound safe to me. If only submarines weren't expensive, a relay fleet sound like fun headache.

[@gerke_kok]

I like the idea of the floating antenna. Indeed coax cable will be needed. But for sure: waterproofing a cable will be a challenge. Even in military size subs they still have a challenge in communication

[@madeintexas3d442]

Keep it up with the sub content. I have been working on the design for mine for awhile and love seeing it on KZbin. All of the off the shelf subs are junk and really intended as toys.

[@TrueExperiment02]

Polich👏👏

[@cyberfloof]

Definitely part 2

[@yadesteny5698]

This is Awsome. Just recently discovered your channel. Great vids over all. Impressive. Im really looking forward to the next video involving some kind of rocket engine

[@Project-Air]

Oh there will be plenty of rocket engines in the next video 😆

[@yadesteny5698]

@@Project-Air hope so man XD

[@stonebayrocker]

So..dosent rocket engenes work under water??! Just saying!

[@patricksullivan41]

Sick my guy

[@niceguy5772]

Pretty cool , good job james , and If you can make a Fast attack military Submarine with missiles and Torpedoes , that would be much cooler

[@ksp1278]

Doesn't at all surprise me that Matt's solution was completely over-engineered. But, then, that's why I love his channel. Your solution, whilst definitely simpler, was still great.

[@CerebralOrigami]

On board power with a very light tether (cat6) seems to work best. Add weights/foam nodes on the tether to make it neutrally buoyant. Another option that might be cool for control (not video) would be to play with a sonic pulsing transmitter/receiver set up and a light weight video cable. I think combining the two set ups would be ideal though. A light weight, neutrally buoyant control cable connected to a float which has radio on it so the cable would be for depth only. I love the VR helmet set up. I would add a heavy fishing line (In the U.S. we hall it 80 pound test) tether to the float for easy recovery. For power look into the tubular battery packs some cordless tools have. I wold also mount the two main motors on the fin controllers you originally had so you can change the pitch to look at something with out moving from where you are. I love the video and wish I could do things like this myself. Thank you.