Sea Perch at NatickFOSS
It's basically a program for kids of all ages to make a real underwater research vehicle.
Builders cut, drill and assemble the frame from half inch pcb pipe.
Builders also learn to carefully solder a circuit board, attach it to a 50 foot cable and test, test. test. The program has full materials kits available for $155 and construction tool kits are also available. Many of the materials are available locally, too. If something breaks, you can fix it.
The term "Open Source" is associated with software. But that isn't the entire story. There's a Maker Movement which is driven by the principles of self sufficiency, Do-it-Yourself, being a hacker and more.
The NatickFOSS meeting on August 1, 2013 is scheduled for some sort of demo of the SeaPerch Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle (ROV). Check back. These notes may be more involved by Thursday, or these notes may only grow after the meeting. Stay tuned.
Here's a link to the manual if you just can't wait. Handout in ODT (LibreOffice) format, which is just about the ROV frame construction.