Underwater drone building course – CPS 5 Course

Piotr Domanowski - 29th of February 2024

We’ve been teaching our underwater drone building course for the past couple of years now. Here, we’ll tell you exactly what it is and what you can get from it.

Going straight to the point – It is a fully self-paced online training, which teaches you how to build your own underwater drone, or remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The ROV in question is the CPS 5 – an underwater drone, which we have started designing in 2019 and have been constantly improving ever since. We also cover best practices for designing any ROVs in general and modifying the underwater drone once it is assembled. The CPS 5 is a suitable platform for most of the tasks that needs to be done underwater and a great basis for any subsea project. The underwater drone course is targeted both at beginners and advanced makers – every little detail is explained even so that a person who is just starting out can handle completing the project.

Is the underwater drone building course a right choice for me?

The course has been created with a complete beginner in mind. This means that you don’t need any experience to start and complete this project. We made it that way, because this resource is exactly what we needed when we attempted to build our first underwater drone. Since late 2018, we worked basically every day on building the first prototype of our underwater drone and only created the first working version in late 2020. We know that this is how long it may take if you don’t have the right guidance.

That’s why, within our underwater drone building course, we are committed to the idea of making this accessible to the people who are not very experienced yet. However, even if you are a seasoned maker, you will enjoy the building process. We are also aware that there is no way, our pre-recorded course will answer each one of your doubts and questions – that’s why you can always write to us in the course “discussion” section and interact with the community of over 500 (as of right now) of our students building their drones.

What tools and skills do I need to complete the drone building course?

To complete the CPS 5 Course, you’ll only need basic skills, like: soldering, crimping and basic assembly techniques. We also teach all of this in the course, so you don’t need to worry.

When it comes to the tools, a 3D printer is very handy but if you don’t have it, you can easily order prints online. Other than that, only basic tools, like screwdrivers or computers are required.

If you want to get a more detailed answer, we have a complete list of all tools, components and supplies used throughout the entire project. Just sign up for a free training below, and we’ll email the complete Bill of Materials to you. In the training we’ll explain to you the entire underwater drone building process and how the machine works exactly.

INCLUDED: THE CPS 5 COMPONENT CHECKLIST (BOM)

When you register for the free CPS 5 training, we will send you the Bill Of Materials for free, which lists everything you’ll ever need when building the CPS 5 drone.

What parts do I need for the drone building course?

Currently all the students source parts required for the build by themselves. We don’t provide ready-to-build kits yet. The cost of all parts is only about $750, which is one of the cheapest underwater drones you can buy. All the required parts along with frequently updated best links to buy them are included in the Bill of Materials, in the course itself (get access to it by clicking a button in the paragraph above).

What can the drone building course teach you?

This course will teach you everything you need to know about building underwater drones to start building your own subsea projects. We cover topic like soldering, wiring up hobby electronics, making watertight devices, solutions for neutral buoyancy, motor configurations and how they affect maneuverability, software used on underwater drones, making your own custom attachments for CPS 5 and many more, which I can’t easily fit into this short paragraph.

Most importantly however, you’ll get hands-on experience in building your own underwater drone. This is a type of knowledge which you can only get by building this thing yourself. I’m sure you know this is the case if you’ve ever built any DIY project.

How long will it take me to build the underwater drone?

Currently we estimate that if you work a couple of hours every-day, you can easily build the CPS 5 ROV in about 3 weeks. The actual time results depend on your experience and the amount of troubleshooting you encounter.

Of course, if you focus on building the drone for only a couple times a week, it will take you a couple of months to complete the project. But feel no pressure – the training is fully self-paced. On average, our students take about a month after receiving all the parts to build the CPS 5 underwater drone.

If you want to check out how our students build their DIY drones, click here to check out their stories and the underwater drones they’ve built:

Kate Leroux

“Building the CPS drone is a great experience for a variety of skill levels”

Kate also said: “Filip and Piotrek are enthusiastic teachers, and they answered quickly and encouragingly when I hit a few snags along the way. I now have a functional underwater drone that I built myself, something I’m very proud of.”

Who we are and why we build ROVs

My name is Peter, and together with my friend Filip, we created the CPS 5 Course. We started building underwater drones when we were just in high school, in 2018. Over the past 5+ years, we’ve created about 16 prototypes of underwater drones, which we have designed ourselves. Since then, we figured out a working formula for building these devices and we’re helping you do the same. Today, the CPS 5 course is one of the most popular ROV courses out there and websites like Hackaday, All3DP and Make Magazine have all written about our drones.

What can I do after the underwater drone building course?

After you complete the course, you’ll have your own underwater drone. You’ll know how it works exactly, how to upgrade it and modify it for your own needs. Don’t forget that you also have all the necessary resources to build any underwater project and you’re skilled to tackle future projects. Soon, we plan to release new kits & courses not only about underwater drones, so stay tuned!

If I convinced you that building an underwater drone with us is a worthwhile time investment, sign up for the free training to learn more! In the training, you’ll receive our frequently updated Bill Of Materials for free and we’ll show you the exact steps for building your own CPS 5 drone.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO BUILD YOU OWN DRONE!

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO BUILD YOUR OWN DRONE!