The Gladius is an underwater drone capable of diving for over four hours to depths of 330 feat, featuring a 4K camera and 2,400-lumen spotlights, according to New Atlas.
Underwater drones have different advantages than flying camera drones. For instance, they have the ability to control buoyancy which makes them more energy-efficient. Therefore, underwater drones can get more run-time from their batteries. This is a good thing since people do not want to be changing batteries on a dripping wet drone.
The challenge is that wireless Bluetooth and WiFi signals cannot get through water, so any underwater drone have to run on a tether cable.
The Gladius Advanced Pro, by Chasing Innovation, is built a bit bulkier than consumer-grade aerial drones but can be carried in a backpack. The tether station fits in an alternative shoulder bag, and between the two bags weighs approximately 11 pounds.
The setup requires the user to plug the drone into the tether, turn on the tether station to a WiFi network, slot a smartphone into the controller and connect to WiFi. Additionally, all the ports on the drone and tether station are fitted with waterproof caps.
To read step-by-step instructions, check out this blog about the Gladius.
Credit: Loz Blain, New Atlas
Filed Under: Rapid prototyping
