A real submarine.
Built from first principles.
20 years of writing code → one autonomous boat, documented end to end.
T-908 to dive target
Honest engineering is the whole point.
Most engineering content shows you the highlight reel. The successful pour, the clean solder joint, the sensor that worked on the first try. That is not how anything real gets built.
This is a systems-engineering project run in the open: a personal autonomous underwater vehicle, designed and built in a home workshop. Requirements, trade-offs, failed castings, recalibrations — everything stays in the frame, because the failures are where the engineering lives.
Software taught me how to manage complexity. The boat is where that discipline meets pressure, salt water and physics that do not care about your sprint plan.
If you care about how real things get built — stay. You are in the right place.
Start here
How the Boat Works
The plain-language tour of every system, outside-in.
The Roadmap
What's done, what's in progress, what's next.
ARGUS-6 sonar series
Build the boat's eyes, lesson by lesson.
Latest from the build log
Building an AUV from scratch — the plan
First wet test of the pressure hull
Inside the pressure hull
ARGUS-6: first ping in the test tank
ARGUS-6 sonar: first images
Why the main drive spins both ways
Module PacksDocumentation packs for building the modules yourself. In development — join the waitlist for the ones you want.
Pressure Hull & Layout
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
Keel Cooling
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
Power Distribution (PDB)
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
Generator Control Node
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
Stability & Buoyancy (SBN)
An open build pack for the pneumatic ballast and buoyancy control.
Dual Motor Node (DMN-01)
An open build pack for the contra-rotating main drive.
ARGUS-6 Imaging Sonar
An open build pack for a 360° imaging sonar — the eyes of the boat.
Hybrid Comm Node
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
ABYSS-Link Acoustic Modem
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
ROS 2 Autonomy Stack
Documentation pack for this module. Scope is being defined as the build progresses.
New to submarines?Start here to nail the basics — no engineering background required.
How does a submarine actually dive?
Ballast, buoyancy and trim — the physics of going under, explained without equations.
Why build an autonomous boat at home?
What a personal AUV is, what it is for, and why a home workshop is enough to build one.
Hi, I'm Denis
I started as a radio engineer in 2005, then spent 20 years building software systems. Now I'm building the thing I actually wanted to build all along: a personal autonomous submarine.
Everything on this site comes from a real workshop and a real boat — the requirements, the schematics, the failures and the fixes. No renders pretending to be hardware.
Built with
- ROS 2
- ESP32-S3
- Texas Instruments
- ANSYS
- JITX
- Bambu Lab
Don't watch the launch from the outside.
Follow the build as it happens — one honest email at a time.