Recently, a team of 9 engineering students from Rochester Institute of Technology constructed a ROV capable of diving to 400 feet. Dan Scoville -- a 2005 RIT grad who claims to have located 3 virigin, undisclosed wrecks in Lake Ontario -- led the team and largely financed the project. Scoville and the team intend to use the ROV this summer to explore the wrecks in Lake Ontario as well as to search the Atlantic Ocean.
Capable of hosting 4 video cameras, the 60-pound aluminum-framed ROV features sensors to measure depth, pressure, and temperature. The students custom-built most of the ROV's circuit boards, wrote the software, and created the interface used to control the device. Already planning to improve the unit, the team is hoping to include a mechanical arm and extended its diving capability -- perhaps to as deep as 800 feet.
