Now it’s not big news to have a drone that can track your running or cycling with a camera. But the French company notilo plus has an underwater UAV that can track and photograph underwater divers. According to new atlas, the sissam has existed since 2019, but recently appeared in a French film “deep house and courtyard”, which tells the story of a couple exploring an underwater haunted house. You can see a video about UAV and a trailer of the movie in the video below.
In order to follow the diver, the robot uses the sound signal from the user control unit to find the approximate position of the user. It can work even in dark conditions. Once close enough, computer vision will target the diver, and the sonar system allows safe navigation.
The control unit cannot control the UAV, but it can stop and start recording or adjust the following distance. It can also modify the position of the UAV. However, you can manipulate it from the ground using a tablet and a long tether cable, or by connecting to the operator’s tether buoy using WiFi. The vision system can track objects other than divers, so the UAV can automatically keep, for example, a moving ship in view.
For less than $14000, you can get a 9 kg UAV that can descend to 100 meters and run on inventory batteries for about 90 minutes. In addition to other available upgrades, there are battery upgrades that can extend the time to 4 hours.