The brainstorming for the glass bottom boat is very basic. It is just the very first ideas for the boat. Most of them are designs for row boats, because initially we planned on building a row boat.
There are three alternative solutions for the glass bottomed remote control vehicle. They are a canoe shaped glass bottom boat, a fully glass vehicle, and a boat with a glass bowl on the bottom. These ideas are all viable but are just not the absolute best choice for the final design.
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| Brainstorming |
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| Brainstorming for an alternative solution |
There are three alternative solutions for the glass bottomed remote control vehicle. They are a canoe shaped glass bottom boat, a fully glass vehicle, and a boat with a glass bowl on the bottom. These ideas are all viable but are just not the absolute best choice for the final design.
Alternative Solution #1
This solution is a canoe shaped boat. The bottom of the canoe would be entirely plexiglass to capture images from under the boat. This includes the sides of the boat being plexiglass as well. The boat would be one solid structure. The bottom and sides would not need to be connected because it would be one piece. There would be a wooden frame around the top of the canoe to keep the edges from braking. There would be a motor on the back end of the boat. It would be remote control powered from the shore. The canoe would be small so that it can be remote control operated without using an excessive amount of energy. It would be 2½ feet long, 1 foot wide, and ½ foot deep (as shown in figures 1A and 1B). There would be a bench like wooden piece in the center of the canoe to aid in the stability of the boat (as shown in figure 1A).
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| Figure 1A |
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| Figure 1B |
Alternative Solution #2
The fully plexiglass vehicle is not as feasible as the other two, but it still could work. In this idea the entire boat would be made from clear plexiglass. It would be a 1 foot by 1 foot cube (as shown in figure 2A and 2B). This glass bottom vehicle would be remote control operated from shore. It would be closed in so that the camera does not get wet. There would be a hole in the back of the cube for the motor to be placed (as shown in figure 2C).
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| Figure 2- Alternative solution- glass cube |
The last alternative solution is the wooden boat with a glass bowl at the bottom. This was originally the design that we were going to use for our final solution. However, we concluded that with a rounded bowl at the bottom there would be a lot of glare from the sun while taking the videos. This vehicle would also be remote control powered and operated from shore. The sides and bottom frame would be made from wood and the clear glass bowl would be in the bottom center. It would be 24 inches long by 20 inches wide and 6 inches deep. This can be seen in figure 3A.
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| Figure 3A |
The camera portion for all of these alternative solutions will be handled by my partner. I will be in charge of the remote control portion of all of these solutions. They would all be battery powered. They would each use the wiring systems from an already existing remote control toy boat.
