Mini ROV Kit

I purchased 6 of these for my marine biology class. The assembly was simple and the instructions were clear. Soldering is required for the wiring, but it was simple to do. I was not impressed with the "sticky tape" provided to hold the motor mounts to the plastic platforms, so I used hot glue instead. My students are using these to add "accessories" to and then they have to collect specimens from a small 4"x4" pool that is only 12" deep. All 6 ROVs functioned fine but one. I received one motor that does not work. I cannot find a model number for the motor so it is hard to purchase a replacement.

Not sure about this ROV kit as it states a university type backing (Robert Gordon University.) I attend a university (Masters level) and designed 3 ROV for 3D printing with kids (ages 6-11.) Each piece needed to be meticulously accounted for and designed for replication. 1st- The blades for the motor were not what was shown in the instructions. That is, the blades in the instructions had a post to attach to a white shaft extension and all three had no post attached. 2nd- There were no white shaft extension included for all three motors so they could sit where the instructions say they should. I 3D Printed what was needed. 3rd- All yellow tubes were pre-cut except for one. 4th- I used a micro heat gun to push yellow tubes onto semi-clear three-way tube connectors (no problem really) needs better design instructions. Definitely would use a plastic epoxy bonder to make it last or at least a second use. Lastly, coat motor posts with rubber cement after soldering wires.

I built this with my 6 year old son and he helped me with assembly and soldering the circuit board. Putting it together was a great learning experience, and I have a few tips and observations for others: 1) The tubes will go together much easier if you wet the connectors first. Most kids won't be able to push the pieces together without the assistance of the water first. 2) The instructions mention a circle or square imprinted on the plastic housing of the motors, and that the terminal next to that should be connected to blue wires. That terminal may also be labeled as the + terminal (not a square or a circle). 3) The tubes will probably come apart after first use because the tubing used for the curved parts is very rigid and will not stay bent. I glued everything together with Gorilla Glue and that seems to be holding. (Gorilla Glue needs water to bond and does not stick to parchment paper so it seemed like the perfect glue for this application.) 4) The sticky pads holding the thruster cluster to the ROV frame won't hold once wet. Again, more glue seems to be in order. 5) Don't bother using sticky tape on the buoyancy canisters. You will need to fine tune the ballast and the tape just gets destroyed by water and repeatedly opening and closing those canisters. The zip ties are sufficient. We used a quarter and 2 small washers from the package of ballast material the ROV came and achieved neutral buoyancy. Overall a great little project. The judicious use of sticky tape makes me think this is a use-learn-discard STEM project but if you upgrade the assembly methods you can build something that will stand up to repeated use.

This is a simple kit with clear instructions, most everything you need to build it, and by gosh, it works. Lots of fun, easy to build, fun to "fly" underwater, and it teaches the basics of how ROVs work. I've a career in these things, and this is the easiest kit I've ever seen. I also bought a cheap underwater fishing lure camera, mounted it on the ROV, and zip-tied the cables together. Suddenly, I was flying an FPV underwater drone, and had a blast zooming over the bottom, dashing around patches of sea grass and menacing (and being menaced by) blue crabs. Highly recommended!