Maker Boat Basic Quick Start Guide

DFCscience
The Maker Boat Basic, laptop running QGC, and X9 Lite on the bank of a river before deployment
The Maker Boat Basic, laptop running QGC, and X9 Lite on the bank of a river.

The Maker Boat Basic Quick Start Guide provides the information you need to start building. If you’ve read the disclaimer and you know what you’re doing, get started with the 3D printed parts, as they will take some time to print. Make sure you’re at least somewhat familiar with ArduRover and QGroundControl before you start building.

But before you begin, let’s briefly talk about what the Maker Boat Basic is, and what it is not.

The Maker Boat Basic Is:

  • A low cost autonomous boat
  • Intended for marine researchers/conservationists, educators, hobbyists
  • Not actually a boat – you must provide your own floating platform (like the boogie board pictured here, or a surfboard, SUP, etc.)
  • Capable of operating for 0.5 – 1 hour with a single 4S 5000 mAh LiPo. Endurance depends on cruise speed
  • Hackable and customizable. Serial and I2C sensors can be integrated easily with the Pixhawk. More sensors can be added with a companion computer
  • An open source project. Please use this information for good

The Maker Boat Basic Is Not:

  • A turn-key solution or kit (yet). Some assembly required
  • Intended for professional survey work, though with some upgrades it could get there
  • Guaranteed to work. Expect some problems, but expect to learn something new when solving them
  • The perfect autonomous boat, but we think it’s “good enough”
  • Intended for ocean crossings or even long (> 1 hour) periods of unattended use
  • Aware of its surroundings. It follows inputs from the RC transmitter or pre-programmed waypoint missions and currently lacks obstacle avoidance capabilities

Quick Start Guide

The links below make up the Maker Boat Basic Quick Start Guide and should be followed in the order in which they appear.

MBB Header