Ditch the Submarine with the Navatics MITO Underwater Drone

Drones have quickly gone from a photographer’s plaything to a family obsession.  Their prices have plummeted, allowing anyone to explore the skies for less than the cost of a new pair of Nikes.  Soon the sky will be swarming with everything from delivery drones to security drones zipping by autonomously.  There is however a place far less explored than our crowded skies…

According to NOAA, only 5% of our oceans have been fully explored.  95% of the space that takes up the majority of our planet remains a mystery, having never been seen or visually recorded.

The MITO from tech startup Navatics, aims to change that with their self-stabilizing, 4k camera equipped underwater drone.

The MITO is a sleek and compact submersible that’s powered by 4 brushless thrusters.  This allows it to self stabilize and maneuver while keeping the camera facing forward (just like a quadcopter with its 4 motors).  2000 lumens of LED light blast through the murky depths, allowing the HD camera to stream video back to your smartphone.

The 4 hour battery gives the MITO a runtime most drones would kill for, and can also be swapped out in the field.

At around 6lbs, the drone can fit into a backpack and is ideal for bringing to dive sites or hull inspections for commercial and industrial watercraft.

Range

Navatics solved a problem that aerial drone users have been plagued with from the beginning…  The further away your drone flies, the weaker the signal gets until suddenly – your signal is gone and the thing is falling to the Earth half-a-mile away.  The MITO uses a wireless transmission system built on a waterproof buoy that connects to the drone via a 131 ft long cable.  The buoy’s radio transmitter connects to the controller at a range of up to 1640 ft.

 

The Controller

Just like aerial drone makers have transitioned to smartphone based remotes, Navatics has followed suit.  The controller uses joystick toggles and radio antenna to connect your smartphone to the MITO’s buoy.  The included app lets you view HD video as it’s being recorded, as well as see how deep the drone currently is.

Price

The MITO was 100% funded within the first 5 hours of their Kickstarter campaign.  Currently, they still have a surprise early bird price available for a $1299 pledge.  That includes everything you need to get started and is expected to ship in September 2018.

Learn more from their Kickstarter page.