SeeStar: Inexpensive, Open-Source Camera System for Underwater Monitoring
Scientists and engineers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have developed SeeStar - a modular, lightweight, low-cost subsea imaging system for mid- to long-term monitoring of marine ecosystems. SeeStar is composed of separate camera, battery, and LED lighting modules, each rated to 300 meters depth. The system can be deployed in a variety of scenarios utilizing stills and video, and can be operated either autonomously or tethered on a range of platforms, including ROVs, AUVs, landers, piers, and moorings. Future goals for the project include making it affordable for individual production and making parts easier to order online. Even though it is still in development, SeeStar is already letting marine researchers see things underwater that they've never seen before.
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00:00:10 Recording the wonderful and unusual world beneath the sea is a challenge that often requires large, expensive, oceanographic equipment. However, engineers and scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have developed a cost-effective and easily accessible way to view the underwater phenomena of the ocean. Divers and remotely operated vehicles can only be underwater for short periods of time. SeeStar is a subsea imaging system that is meant for ocean monitoring projects that require a camera to be underwater for longer periods of time. The SeeStar system is lightweight, self-contained, low-cost, and able to take still photos or video of underwater ecosystems. It can record imagery for up to several months at depths of up to 300 meters.
00:00:56 The SeeStar system is made up of three modules: a battery module, a camera module, and a light module. One intriguing aspect about this system is that everything is open-source, and all assembly, software, and technical directions are available online and are free to download. The simple design of the SeeStar system makes it easily adaptable. For example, the SeeStar system can be customized to utilize a tripod, or it can be attached to pre-existing equipment. SeeStar systems have been deployed by fisheries scientists to survey fish populations in Monterey Bay, on custom designed tri-pods to record sea floor organisms, on hagfish traps to confirm research predictions, and even under the ice in Antarctica to record never before seen
00:01:40 marine environments. The scientific motivation behind the SeeStar system is to make it affordable for researchers to deploy multiple systems to monitor underwater habitats. This would allow researchers to comprehensively monitor one local environment or gain a glimpse of many different global locations. To achieve this goal, MBARI is working hard to ensure that this new technology is accessible, affordable, and easy to assemble for a wide variety of users. This is Sonia Vargas, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.