World's smallest remote controlled submarine.



At 40 centimetres long (16 inches), it is no bigger than a toy and is claimed to be the world's smallest self-controlling submarine.

But the Serafina, built by researchers at Canberra's Australian National University, is cheap, it can dive to 5 000 metres (3 miles) and it can turn, somersault and perform an endless range of scientific tasks.

Its designers say the Serafina will open up a new era of oceanic discovery, from shipwreck recovery to mineral exploration and search and rescue missions, not to mention potential military use.

It may do for submersible craft what remote controlled model sized aircraft are already doing for advanced military powers.

Or, it may simply be a toy, the team says.

The Serafina has five propellers and a plastic hull crammed with rechargeable batteries and circuitry.

It can travel at the relatively fast underwater speed of one metre per second, equivalent to walking pace, and can hover, tilt and right itself if overturned.

Team leader Uwe Zimmer said his Department of Systems Engineering team had refined the design so Serafina could be produced relatively cheaply, starting at about $700 each.

Its development and production costs were a tiny fraction of what autonomous submersibles usually cost.

"Being small, for a submersible, is not only a very good thing to have but is actually a very excellent thing," Zimmer said.

"To handle a fully-blown autonomous submersible, you need to have a crane, you need to have a specialised boat, you need to have a calm sea, you need to have a full crew on the sea to operate the vehicle.

"When I offer to companies and research institutions the possibility of having submersibles they can just throw overboard and fish out of the water later on, this is a big improvement.

"The reason why small is beautiful in this case is that, if you're small enough, the pressurisation for the deep sea becomes significantly more easy."

The only problem - it could possibly be eaten by an aquatic creature.

On the other hand, it can be programmed in advance and last on a mission, with its current battery capacity, for up to a day.

NEWS24

Cool!!!

If we're talking about R/C vehicles, then check this out.

HUGE R/C B-52

Hmm I can see how that could pose a problem j:

But thats better than a multi thousnad dollar ROV getting swallowed.

Now thats an R/C....where can I get one.I could use it to shut the neighbors up at 3am :lol:

Amazing..

This micro-sub could actually be quite a breakthrough for undersea exploration. Small, manouverable, and most imprtaintly, cheap. So what if one or two are eaten p: , they are but a fraction of the cost of a manned sub or expensive ROV.

Unfortunately, its not for sale.

I'll have to find the specs on it. It was like 8 by 8 feet or something and weighed over 200 pounds.Not sure. I'll have to check.