While the Lanternfish is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), it is not the same “wired to the operator” design as you might have seen in other ROVs. The Lanternfish uses a surface float design. A tether runs from the Lanternfish to a surface float, rather than to the operator; so the operator is not directly wired to the system.
The use of a surface float enables a user to deploy and control multiple Lanternfish at nearby locations from one control computer. A surface float design also enables semi autonomous scenarios where one or more Lanternfish are deployed, the user leaves, and then comes back at a later date to either check on the units progress in performing some autonomous task, or to recover the units. In the mean time, a float design means the ROVs operating underwater are still able to be remotely monitored through long range surface radios.
We are will be releasing the Lanternfish to be an open source, underwater robotics platform. We are very excited to see what people do with it!