A Low Cost IoT Based Underwater Robot for Visual Inspection

Volume 7 Issue 2 January - June 2019

Research Paper

A Low Cost IoT Based Underwater Robot for Visual Inspection

Pawan Kesari* , Durga Hareesha Kondeti**, Madhu Venkatesh Korla ***, Suresh Majji****

*_****Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Vignan's Institute of Information Technology, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Kesari, P., Kondeti, D. H., Korla, M. V., & Majji, M. (2019). A Low Cost IoT Based Underwater Robot for Visual Inspection, i-manager's Journal on Embedded Systems, 7(2), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.26634/jes.7.2.15817

Abstract

Underwater robots are used in surveillance, academic and military applications because of their capability to execute risky tasks underwater without human intervention. In this work, a robot is built at a low cost to carry out inspection at specified depth in a water body, controlled using IoT (Internet of Things) based technology. The main drawback with the currently developed Unmanned Underwater Vehicle’s(UUV’s) are that they are controlled using cables, which is a problem for underwater surveillance due to their additional weight and possible harm with the water animals. But with the help of this work, IoT technology can be used to control the robot wirelessly under deep waters which increases the credibility of this work. With the use of Raspberry-Pi 3 Model B+ the robot can be connected to a smartphone or a laptop and will be controlled with ease. The Raspberry-Pi 3 Model B+ can be programmed using python programming language and different instructions can be given to the UUV. In this work DC motors are interfaced with Raspberry-Pi. These motors are controlled using a smartphone or a laptop and depending upon the instruction given, these motors operate. A Raspberry-Pi camera module is placed at the front which is interfaced directly with Raspberry-Pi and is programmed for getting live video streaming. Focus lights are also placed for attaining better quality of video under the water.