Sunday, June 29, 2008

Safety Yellow

The SMU Robotics Club is in full swing preparing for the 2008 AUVSI Competition. Funding from all our wonderful sponsors has allowed us to branch out, try new things, and buy new things.

The outer hull has been fabricated but is not yet assembled. At the moment, it's lying in pieces while the good people at Custom Powder Coating make it shiny and yellow. We picked "safety yellow" for our 'bot; it will make Seahorse III look more related to her sister from last year. (We also like bursting into a well-known Beatles song from time to time, but that's beside the point.)

We're quite proud of the hydrophone system going into this year's AUV. Chris Pilcher, signal-man extraordinaire, has done a fabulous job simulating and designing a robust system. You can check out all the dirty details here.

We're also happy about our new website. Right now, it mostly contains a detailed description of the hydrophones and our photo albums from last year. Eventually, it will include information about the overall design and the vision, positioning, and high-level control systems.

Stay tuned for the first pics of Seahorse III; she'll be looking fancy with her new paint job!