Robotic bouyancy compensation

[frndrfoe]

before the flames start this is just speculation...

I work in one of the local robot factories so this is just the kind of thing I think about sometimes.
Would a robotic system for buoyancy be a good product for recreational diving?

I don't think it could be considered anywhere as dangerous as self driving cars.

I am thinking that you would have to get to some depth and do a baseline on every dive and then it would be a simple matter of losing or adding gas to the BC based on depth. I could see the big hurdles being the monitoring of gas volume as it is released, how to release air from different areas of a vest, compensate for possible water in the vest, and inconsistent buoyancy changes at depths caused by different gear or body mass. Maybe have two baseline stops each dive but that would be a pain. You would also need +/- buttons to adjust. I think you would need baselines so that it wouldn't fight you when you try to swim up and down in the water column. There may be too many variables to consider.

I just think it would be cool to have a BC that you could hit a button to go up to x feet safely and stop. Kind of like a cruise control.

If you're thinking that won't work because "blah", try to solve "blah" before flaming. Like I said, just speculating.

Also, I have been away from diving for a long time so maybe somebody is already working on this.

 

[tbone1004]

shouldn't be as complicated as you made it sound. Tie to a depth sensor in your computer, and tell it the depth you want to go. It will have programmed ascent and descent rates build it and add or dump accordingly. the problem with this is you would have to have a manual override because it wouldn't really know what to do if you kicked up or down, where on a DPV, surges in the waves, etc etc. I guess it would be interesting to se, but I know it wouldn't be something we could use in technical diving

 

[BRT]

Building it would be simple. question is why?

 

[SCRedWolf]

before the flames start this is just speculation...

I work in one of the local robot factories so this is just the kind of thing I think about sometimes.
Would a robotic system for buoyancy be a good product for recreational diving?

I don't think it could be considered anywhere as dangerous as self driving cars.

I am thinking that you would have to get to some depth and do a baseline on every dive and then it would be a simple matter of losing or adding gas to the BC based on depth. I could see the big hurdles being the monitoring of gas volume as it is released, how to release air from different areas of a vest, compensate for possible water in the vest, and inconsistent buoyancy changes at depths caused by different gear or body mass. Maybe have two baseline stops each dive but that would be a pain. You would also need +/- buttons to adjust. I think you would need baselines so that it wouldn't fight you when you try to swim up and down in the water column. There may be too many variables to consider.

I just think it would be cool to have a BC that you could hit a button to go up to x feet safely and stop. Kind of like a cruise control.

If you're thinking that won't work because "blah", try to solve "blah" before flaming. Like I said, just speculating.

Also, I have been away from diving for a long time so maybe somebody is already working on this.

I can see needing a "buffer range" built into the programming. Since you tend to rise during an inhale and sink during an exhale you don't want the BCD "cruise control" to try to compensate for each breath. I'd imagine that'd blow through some breathing gas. So if you wanted to stay at 65 feet you could program it to 65 +/- 2 feet (for example) before it did anything. Another possible feature would be a way to monitor breathing gas pressure so it'd automatically disable itself below a certain pressure remaining so your potential last breaths aren't dumped into the BCD, then the water. A potential safety feature could be a hard-set bottom limit. Say you're running nitrox 32 so you set it to not allow you to descend below 111-feet unless you hit an emergency override. There's a lot of options you can do but of course each one adds to dev costs and how much anyone would pay for such a device is beyond me. But good luck with it even if you just try it out to see if you can.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Yep, someone invented this already:

 

[KeithG]

there are already mutliplte devices like this:
Features | SUBA

and there is also a device that you plug into your inflator hose (i forget the name, it advertised here on scubaboard a year? ago)

try a google search and you will get a bunch of hits for various things.

 

[herman]

Hate to break it to both the OP and the SUBA people but a product like this will never work/be accepted until it can actually read and interpret human thought. Think about how we (or at least I ) dive. We are constantly changing depth; we don’t just cruise along at one depth but rather are constantly dropping down to look at something, acceding to go over an obstacle and the like. With a system that tries to maintain constant depth the user would have to constantly be on the computer changing depth, thinking about it for a second, a joy stick like control for constant human input would be necessary. Also the rate of depth change is often times dependent on the situation, I need to drop/ascend quickly due to an oncoming diver and the computer fights me, not good. And let’s face it; BCs are now connected to the most sophisticated complex computer available, the human brain. Properly weighted and with a little experience, buoyancy control becomes an instinctive response, not something we have to think about. I also see this as a huge safety concern, divers relying on the system will never learn to control their buoyancy, when…and it will be when..the system fails, uncontrolled accents or descents will happen with panicked divers who have no clue how to control buoyancy on their own.


All that aside for the moment, they are also going about buoyancy change in the wrong way. Instead of inflating and deflating a bladder with breathing gas which will likely be very wasteful in a continuously varying system, a sealed system that does not rely on breathing gas would be preferable. It would not waste breathing gas and if done properly would be much easier to control.

 

[kaptken1392]

Mr REAL OLD SCHOOL here. I can agree on the "cool" factor, but there are more than enough things in my everyday life that are "automatic ". I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer to control things myself. In many activities, this ability to control is often called "skill".
OP, please do not take my comment as a flame or a disparaging remark.
It is more the attempt of an old man to retain little bits of control over little bits of his life.

 

[frndrfoe]

I was never considering actually doing something like this, I just think it's kinda fun to discuss the challenges and solutions to make something like this hypothetically work.

I think a sealed independent system is a good idea, using CO2 cartridges likely, like the old BCD emergency solutions... lol

The idea of setting baselines would be so that it would "know" if you were swimming up or down and not fight you.

 

[frndrfoe]

it was also, back in the early 80's, far fetched to think anyone would ever trust or be able to afford a dive computer.