Robotic Fishing Pole Casts and Reels Automatically

Using a fishing pole is normally a manual operation, requiring a decent amount of coordination to put your bait or lure in the correct position. MrTeslonian, however, was asked by someone with a serious disability if he design a project that would automated the process. As seen in the video below, he’s been able to meet this challenge quite brilliantly, with a mechanical system that can be controlled via a smartphone or computer.

His device sits on a dock or other platform, and uses a 1/10 scale RC winch to pull the pole into its pre-firing position. When in place, the pole is captured by a servo-actuated mechanism that holds it, then a cocking arm rotates to stretch a spring that flings the pole. To cast, the operator touches a button on the smartphone, which pulls the holding mechanism back to allow the pole to fly forward. A small motor then reels the line back in, hopefully resulting in a captured fish.

Everything is controlled by an Arduino board over WiFi. Although it takes a while to automatically ready the system using its small winch motor, the system is designed to be power efficient, enabling it to be operated with an RC battery.