BlueRobotics is excited to announce that our Thruster-100 has won the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award.
We started development of Thruster-100 over 6 months ago as a side project after we had trouble finding a suitable thruster for an autonomous solar boat. We needed a reliable, rugged, and inexpensive thruster to power our boat for a 2-month long journey across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii. We couldn’t find anything that fit our needs and, more importantly, our hobbyist budget. In our search, we found a number of people online who were looking for a similar thruster for their marine robotic projects. We set out to design a thruster that was simple, high-performing, and affordable.
The Thruster-100. (Image © ProtoLabs)
After 6 months and many prototypes, the Thruster-100 was born. And now, with the generous help of Proto Labs and the Cool Idea! Award, we can bring the Thruster-100 to you! With an affordable underwater propulsion system available to hobbyists, students, researchers, and commercial organizations, we hope to inspire and enable ocean exploration on a larger scale.
Exploded view of injection molded plastic parts. (Image © ProtoLabs)
Check out the official Proto Labs press release here!Stay tuned for more updates and please join our email list to be the first to hear about the Thruster-100 release!