Categories: Technology

Underwater Drone Is Ready To Make A Splash

If you’re shopping around for an aerial drone, then you’ll know that there are now lots of companies making them. What’s perhaps a little more surprising, however, is the number of groups offering underwater drone. Already, we’ve seen little remote-control submarines such as the Trident, FathomOne, CCROV, and BlueROV2. Now another one has taken the plunge into the market, in the form of the currently-crowdfunding Gladius.

The 3-kg (6.6-lb) drone is being made in Standard and Advanced models, both of which come with a 30-m (98-ft) tether running up to a Wi-Fi-equipped buoy that’s towed along at the surface. This means that the tether doesn’t have to reach all the way from the Gladius to the operator. A longer 100-m (328-ft) cable is available as an upgrade, allowing the drone to travel farther from its buoy, and/or to dive deeper – its maximum dive depth is 100 meters.

Fish, treasure chests, sunken ships and whatnot are recorded at a maximum resolution of 1080p on the Standard, or 4K on the Advanced (with some help from a couple of built-in 1,200-lumen LED spotlights) – we’re still waiting to hear about frame rates. Footage and 16MP stills are stored on an onboard SD card.

The two models also have different Wi-Fi ranges, with the Standard offering 30 meters (98 ft) and the Advanced offering 500 m (1,640 ft). This means that the buoy can be that far from the operator, with the tether potentially adding some additional horizontal distance to the drone itself. Take a look at this article if you want to get more information on the best underwater drone brands of 2024.

Both versions have a neutrally-buoyant aluminum alloy body, four thrusters, a claimed three hours of run time per 1.5-hour charge of the two lithium-polymer battery packs, and a maximum forward speed of 2 meters (6.6 ft) per second. The included control unit features video game-like controls, and incorporates the user’s iOS or Android smartphone. A 720p video feed allows them to see what the drone’s camera is seeing.

Production funds for the Gladius are now being raised on Indiegogo, where a pledge of US$599 will get you a Standard and $799 will get you an Advanced – as usual, that’s assuming everything goes according to plan. Their estimated retail prices are $1,399 and $1,699, respectively. By way of comparison, the aquatic drones we mentioned earlier range in price from $600 all the way up to $3,000.

Source: Indiegogo

Sameer

Sameer is a writer, entrepreneur and investor. He is passionate about inspiring entrepreneurs and women in business, telling great startup stories, providing readers with actionable insights on startup fundraising, startup marketing and startup non-obviousnesses and generally ranting on things that he thinks should be ranting about all while hoping to impress upon them to bet on themselves (as entrepreneurs) and bet on others (as investors or potential board members or executives or managers) who are really betting on themselves but need the motivation of someone else’s endorsement to get there.

See Full Bio