Hey everyone! I’m John, one of the co-founders of Fathom — the company that’s bringing underwater exploration and education to the masses. Our flagship product — the Fathom One — is an easy to use, portable, modular underwater drone that’s less than half the cost of the closest competition.
Using the Fathom One is simple: Simply turn it on, connect to its WiFi hotspot using any Android or iOS smart device, and drop it in the water. You can see what it’s seeing using the live HD video stream, and guide its movements with touchscreen controls.
Our Kickstarter campaign just went live and you can watch our video here: https://youtu.be/i-HMR1GWOsY
We look forward to hearing your feedback and we’re happy to answer any questions here on PH. What will you use your Fathom One for? The possibilities are endless.
@johnmboss that looks pretty interesting! What's the huge cable about that all underwater devices use? Why isn't wireless possible? I guess it has something to do with physics that I'm not seeing/understanding.
@freshfey Great question Feyyaz! Simply put, wireless HD video streaming and real-time communication through water to the depths we're going just doesn't exist yet - it would take a ton of power to beam that info through 150 feet of water! The tether is actually a huge benefit though, so in case something happens to your drone at depth, you can just pull it right back up. Thanks for the question!
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@johnmboss is it pretty much similar to also funded on KS Trident from OpenROV?
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@johnmboss I see you guys are located in St. Joe. I am the Head Coach of the Men's Rowing Team down at Notre Dame. I think this could take some AWESOME video of rowing and our boats from underneath that we could both use for PR. Any interest in coming down for a practice with a prototype?
@mike_lehmann That would be so cool! When would you be interested in trying to get some footage?
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@johnmboss Whenever you can! We can be pretty flexible and could do it either at the front-end or back-end of our practice. The river is a bit muddy right now so I would give it a week or so to drop. Shoot me an email - it is on here: http://www.ndmensrowing.com/coac...
@mike_lehmann Thanks for the info Mike! With the our Kickstarter campaign in full swing, it may be a bit difficult to get down to you. Sending an email now!
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Very cool!! What kind of reception have you had from fishermen and boaters? I can see a ton of practical applications for it in both categories.
@brian_kearin Those two groups have actually been some of our most responsive customers! Whether it's prop and hull inspection for boaters, or fishing condition evaluation for fishermen, they've voiced a tremendous amount of interest!
Sounds similar to a company I was introduced to recently called Hydroswarm: http://www.hydroswarm.com ... happy to make an intro if you aren't familiar with them.
From their Kickstarter page: "At Fathom, we're a group of outdoor enthusiasts, scuba divers, filmmakers, and tech nerds who are passionate about underwater exploration. To share that passion with others, we developed the Fathom One—an HD underwater drone that’s easy to use, highly portable, and fully modular, all for under $600. "
Just a little update for everyone that stumbles upon this page. We've successfully hit our goal on Kickstarter, so the final development and manufacturing process has been kicked off!
If you'd like to continue the conversation, We've got it going on at our site:
http://fathomdrone.com/forum
Thanks!
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