YouCan Robot BW1 is the first underwater robot created by Youcan Robotics Co., Lt. This young company wants to go far and they might manage to become the worldwide leader of underwater drones. Indeed their new drone’s technical specifications are impressive, the robot is actually really easy to use and the retail price is very competitive.
The underwater drone will allow you to explore the underwater world, to take underwater videos, pictures and much more. They just launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. A good opportunity to be an early adopter and to get the underwater drone at a cheaper price. Let us tell you more about this new fish robot.
How does the submarine drone works ?
A cable, the tether, connects to the drone and the wifi extender with the YouCan app. The drone transfers and live streams the images and videos to the wifi extender through the cable; the wifi extender then sends it to the mobile devices. The user can simply control the drone to take photos or videos with the Bluetooth controller with ease. You can also attach a GoPro or LED rack mounts to the drone for extra footage or lighting.
- Weight: 4,6kg
- Dimension: 51x39x12cm or 20x15x5in
- Water temperature range: 0-40°c or 32-104°F
- Maximum Speed: 1,5 m/s
- Max rated depth: 100 meters or 330 feets
Taking pictures and videos underwater with the drone
The YouCan Robot, as other underwater drones, allows you to take underwater pictures and videos. But this robot, new generation of underwater drones, usually offers higher performance features. Let’s check this out.
HD underwater videos in 4K
When most of the best underwater drones offers a 1080 HD video camera, the YouCan Robot offer a 4K video quality. At this point, the YouCan robot offers the best underwater drone’s video camera. Some other underwater drones, such as IBubble, do not even have a camera but offer the possibility to put a GoPro or underwater camera on the robot.
With YouCan BW1’s 4K camera you can also film in 30FPS which offer a great and smooth video quality and vibrant colors. At this point, the YouCan robot offers the best underwater drone’s video quality. Some other underwater drones, such as IBubble, do not even have a camera but offer the possibility to put a GoPro or underwater camera on the robot.
12 mega pixel camera
The You Can underwater drones offers a camera quality of 12 Mega Pixel. It represents basically the same number of pixel as the Iphone 7. Which represent a pretty decent underwater photography quality. As an example, the Trident Drone, which is one of the main competitor of YouCan Robot only has a camera of 4 MP.
The Lenses specificity
The camera of the Youcan Robot underwater drone can rotate +45° to capture anything below or above the drone. It is particularly interesting because it allows you to take a picture of anything around the drone without maneuvering. YouCan Robot is the only submarine robot offering this level of technical specificity.
- Sensor: 1:1,8″ CMOS
- Effective Pixels: 12 M 16:9
- Image Format: H.265
- Video Coding: 3840×2160 @ 30fps
- Video Format: MOV, MP4
- Field Angle: H 112°,V 84°, D 140°
- M.O.D : 0,3m
- Optical Distortion: -40%
- Controlable Range: Pitch +45°
Wifi extender, application and live stream
The underwater drone also offer a free app that allows you to directly see what your underwater e-robot sees. Available on IOS and Android, the application allows you to control the submarine drone on your touchscreen device. You are also able to control speed and light intensity. This feature is enhanced by a Wifi extender device on the drone. Finally, the application can also be directly plug on a control device that allows you to see, whet the drone sees and to use a remote control device to maneuver the drone.
Technical specifications and cool features
What is the battery life of the robot ?
The battery last around 6 hours with minimal use. For more continuous and intense use, the battery usually last between 3 and 5 hours. To toally charge the battery of the diver drone, it usually takes between 8 and 9 hours. The Youcan robot will then have the longest underwater drone battery life in comparaison to other leisure underwater drones. Indeed, its main compotitors have a batterie life ranging from 1,5 and 3,5 hours.
- Rated Capacity: 14000 MAH
- Battery Life Normal Use: 3 to 4 hours
- Battery Life Light use: 5 to 7 hours
- Charging time: 9,3 hours
- Nominal Voltage: 10,905 V
- Max. Charging Voltage: 12,6V
How deep can it go ?
The initial basic diving robot had a tether of 50 meters. But, you can get a 150 meters link that would allow you to dive at 100 meters and explore what ever lies deep down.
Underwater speed
With the 3 propellers 2 vertical, 1 horizontal and 3 Knots speed or 1,5 meters per second, it is easy to navigate your drone on the seabed and control it away from the current. It also allows you to discover quickly a large portion of the sea bed.
The stabilization feature
When you come across a moment you want to capture, you can lock BW-1 into position and with its self-stabilization. This great new drone’s generation feature allows the robot to balance itself in the current. This feature allows begininer to easily use the submarine drone.
The lights of the underwater robot
The 2 LED lights can illuminate the ocean bed to give you your optimal viewing and can self-adjust to its surroundings. You can also attach LED up to two LEDS thanks to the light racks on BW-1 in order to get more light if you go deeper or in darker areas such as caves. The lighting Intensity is adjustable, which is a pretty nice feature.
Work in progress
The YouCan team is also developing new features that would enhance the utilisation of the drone. In the future, the team want to expand YouCan BW1 and produce more products that can provide hours of exploration of the ocean. One of this feature is named the “target lock” and would allow the robot to lock onto object of fishes and to automatically follow it at a safe distance.
Crowdunfing Campaign
To continue their development, the YouCan Robot team created a crowd funding campaign on IndieGoGo that allows underwater lovers to help this great project but also to buy an underwater drone YouCan Robot at a much cheaper price. Indeed the best buy package is a -55% on the crowdfunding campaign at 749 USD instead of 1699 USD. So if you would like to buy an underwater robot, this is a great opportunity.
