Finally got to take the ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) out on the lake for the first time since I received it a month ago. The Trident was fully charged, the cable was ready, the software was updated… and I still had no idea what to expect or what I was even doing.
So I handed everything over to my kid!
Truthfully I purchased everything to keep her entertained and for her to see and explore the underwater world.
I love scuba diving. It was my passion as a teenager and I worked my way up to be a certified divemaster by the time I was 18 and had logged over 100 hours underwater by that age. My daughter on the other hand has not shown any interest despite my prodding and hopes. She’s into horses, I get it. I can’t force her to enjoy my hobbies, but maybe I could find a work around. This was the work around.
I handed her the reigns (so-to-speak) aka the controller and let her have fun with it. So as of this point, I still haven’t actually used the drone. So what follows is video from my daughter piloting it.
OpenROV Trident Video
As you can see, she did a great job piloting the Trident. The quality is only 720p as that is what was recorded automatically on the device. The Trident is supposed to store 1080p on board, but I didn’t see that happen and it might have been if my daughter didn’t hit the correct button. Oh well… Still have lots to learn.
Got home and needed to do an update:
Lessons Learned
I had an easy time connecting to the Trident while out on the water, but a very hard time reconnecting to the Trident back at the lake house. There were so many wifi connections that I believe it was making it difficult. Since I wasn’t able to reconnect, it made cleaning/running the motors in clear fresh water impossible to do.
I unscrewed the motor compartments and sprayed them with a hydrophobic spray and really let it dry out. Two days actually, before putting it away.
Above 5 feet of water, the Trident just wants to float back up to the surface.
Battery life is very long. It was run easily for 20 minutes (albeit intermittently) and when I got home and put it on the charger, it still have more than 75% battery life left. This is great news!
The controller works extremely well and highly recommend using it over an iPad.
Looking forward to the next test at a deeper location!
