"Shooting swimming from above the water makes about as much sense as shooting ice skating from below the ice!...you're in the wrong medium!"

- Garrett Brown, MobyCam creator

 Background...

FishCam is the next generation camera system for underwater sporting events.  In the 1992 Olympics, television spectators were treated to a new view while watching competitive swimming events.  MobyCam, originally developed by Garrett Brown, provided an underwater camera system where the camera is pulled along a track on the bottom of the pool so that viewers can see the action in a different medium.  The camera was restricted to one lane, but still provided an exciting new look at the sport.  FishCam goes one step further to bring the camera off the bottom of the pool and giving it freedom to move in any direction by providing a ballasted platform which is fast enough to keep up with the top swimmers in the world.

 We have designed and built the first generation of FishCam.  Its purpose is to serve as a stepping stone for other design groups to build further models.  We approached this project as a mini-research project, for which the main purpose was to build a working prototype with a limited budget.  We also designed for an optimal project with higher performance parts and with the specifications to move fast enough to compete with the worlds fastest swimmers.  While our prototype is still taking form, the possibilities of FishCam as seen from the first generation, show us that we are building towards an achievable and exciting goal.