Leviathan: an autonomous Raspberry Pi-controlled electric boat

Posted by Jon on 11 September 2014

Heikki Leivo and Matti Koljonen are currently working together to develop a miniature autonomous electric boat, which they are calling Leviathan. The boat is made of polystyrene foam, uses brushed DC motors and servos for movement, and is controlled by a Raspberry Pi, which reads data from GPS and a MinIMU-9 inertial measurement unit for navigation. Leviathan is equipped with a camera and also features a D24V6ALV step-down regulator for powering servos and other electronics. The boat is also controllable over WiFi.

The electronics inside Leviathan.

Matti and Heikki plan for their vehicle to be able to run pre-defined routes, capture photos, and record video, among other things. You can learn more about Leviathan on its website.

6 comments

Due to a dreadful accident I managed to destroy the D24v6ALV step-down converter with reverese polarity; it is now being replaced by D24V90F5 and Pololu Pushbutton Power Switch SV. Together with Adafruit Trinket they can be used to build a nice power manager - I will soon show&tell how.
To be preceise, the Wifi interface is actually just for debugging. The robot is actually controlled with a cellphone via internet using a 3g dongle, which gives virtually unlimited range. We will tell more details about our approach once we get the basic design working properly.
Thanks for the additional info; I look forward to your future posts!
Is you web site down ?looking for inspiration!
It does look like the website originally hosting the Leviathan project is down. I sent Heikki, one of the creators, an email about it. In the meantime, if you are looking for a general sense of robotics or electronics inspiration, you can browse our community projects or Raspberry Pi-tagged blog posts.

-Jon
I am working on a rc gps boat also .

Post a comment

Using your Pololu account allows you to customize your avatar and manage your comments; you can also post anonymously.

Related Products

Raspberry Pi Model B+
Pololu Step-Down Voltage Regulator D24V6ALV
MinIMU-9 v3 Gyro, Accelerometer, and Compass (L3GD20H and LSM303D Carrier)
Log In
Pololu Robotics & Electronics
Shopping cart
(702) 262-6648
Same-day shipping, worldwide
Menu
Shop Blog Forum Support
My account Comments or questions? About Pololu Contact Ordering information Distributors