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IPFS News Link • Underwater Exploration and Living

Electric Scubster personal sub dives into crowdfunding pond

• http://www.gizmag.com, Paul Ridden

In development since 2011, the Scubster Nemo was put through its underwater paces just last month. As with the human-powered Scubster, the pilot of the electric-powered flavor had to be suited and tanked up before the dive. The current prototype has a prop on each side, controlled using a lever coupled to a bar and each can be rotated independently. This is reported to make the craft highly maneuverable.

Two electric motors power it to a top speed of 8 km/h (4 kn), which can be removed and replaced by more powerful ones if needed. Its pair of battery packs installed in the back are promised to be good for 2 hours of use between charges (though Rousson told us that he's aiming to bump that up to 5 hours by October), and there's also enough room in the rear to throw in extra batteries to power any video cameras and lights mounted to the Nemo.

Though the object of the Kickstarter venture is to move toward commercial availability, backers are not being given the chance to actually own a Scubster Nemo just yet (at the moment, the sub would cost around €15,000 – about US$16,500 – to build).


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