An underwater drone, iBubble autonomously follows and records the actions of scuba divers. It was revealed in 2016, but now its extended and more capable version is here and it has been named the “Seasam”. It is manufactured by French marine tech company “Notilo Plus”. It first hit the market in 2019, but it attracted the attention of the public when it was featured in the horror film “The Deep house”, in which a scuba diving couple explore an underwater haunted house.
It shoots HD video footage of its scuba-diving users and is capable of wirelessly following them. It does so in the same way as the Bubble is featured to do. It does sp using acoustic and computer vision technologies.
It can find the person even at night or in otherwise low-visibility conditions because it is able to concentrate the acoustic signals emitted by a control unit carried by the user. Once it gets close enough, the drone utilizes its onboard 1080p/20fpss camera and visual recognition system to detect the diver. Moreover, it uses its own sonar system to detect and avoid barriers in the way.
Acoustic signal commands can be sent to the Seasam by the control unit. The users cannot guide the Seasam directly but they can adjust its distance, can switch on its spotlights, and start or stop the shooting. Moreover, they can direct it to move so that they can follow it easily or to stay in place when they swim away.
Seasam can be remotely operated as well from the surface by connecting it with a long, reeled communications cable. Then in order to handle it, the user utilizes a tablet-equipped handheld remote to view its real-time video.
Navigator is used as another remote-control option. It is attached to the drone through a shorter length of a cable and wirelessly communicates with its operator via WiFi. So, the cable must be a bit longer than the drone’s necessary diving depth. Moreover, as the Navigator is capable of determining the underwater location of the Seasam relative to itself, it is also able to provide the exact location of anything spotted by the drone in terms of its GPS Coordinates.
Seasam is supplied with seven thrusters. It has a maximum dive depth of 100 m and can run for about 1.5 hours [per 2.5-hour charge of its removable 6600 mAh lithium-ion battery. Unlike the Bubble, its hardware and software can be updated. Pricing for Seasam starts at 12000 Pounds. It can be seen in this video