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A scuba diver's best friend could soon be a computer strapped to their buoyancy jacket, controlling whether they sink too deep or surface too quickly.
The potentially life-saving device has been developed by two Auckland University engineering students and is believed to be the first of its type in the world.
It works by monitoring the depth of the diver, the speed of their ascent or descent, and automatically adjusting the buoyancy of their suit if they get into trouble.
Buoyancy control is critically important to divers, as rising too rapidly or descending too quickly to an unsafe depth can cause serious injury or death.
Buoyancy is usually controlled by the diver adding or releasing air in their control device, which is worn like a jacket.
But the Electronic Dive Buddy, designed by Anatoly Kudryashov and Jenny Xu, automatically adjusts a diver's buoyancy if an unsafe depth or velocity is reached. It also has a cruise control feature, allowing divers to automatically maintain a desired depth.
The design process had involved difficulties, most related to keeping the device waterproof, Mr Kudryashov said.
But his experience as an avid diver for seven years enabled the development to take on a user-based structure, with constant tests at Newmarket's 4.7 metre deep Olympic swimming pool, he said.
"We were seeing where we went wrong. There's only so much you can do in theory and in simulations. We had to go down and test it."
The testing had confirmed the device worked, and was waterproof to at least 30 metres under water, he said.
The next step was to develop and refine it to the point where the Electronic Dive Buddy could go on sale, Mr Kudryashov said.
Further development could shave at least two-thirds off the size of the device, and enable it to be built into a scuba diver's suit, he said, but such refinements would depend on financial backing.
