Seahorse III underwent leak tests today and passed with flying colors. The main compartment was actually so watertight that a vacuum was created, and the air inside the compartment condensed and got colder! Plus, the lid makes nice squelching noise when taken off, so we're pretty sure that no water is getting in this robot.
In other news, Chris has built an apparatus to hold the pinger machine underwater. Most of this apparatus is painted light blue, so that the robot won't be able to differentiate it from the water. This crate is made of PVC pipe and is nearly invisible when it's sitting at the bottom of the pool. This way, the robot can only rely on the sound of the pings sent out by the pinger when it attempts to find it.
What the robot will be able to see is the smaller PVC crate, which is painted red and orange. Its distinct colors allow the robot's vision systems to pick it out from its surroundings.
The tests continue...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Official Standings
The official standings from the AUVSI competition can be found here:
http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/2007/07finalstandings.cfm
Go SMU!
http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/2007/07finalstandings.cfm
Go SMU!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Success
I am pleased to report that the SMU Robotics club, after so many setbacks, has managed to place 9th overall in the AUVSI competition. This is absolutely outstanding, and far greater than we had even hoped to achieve. We won two awards last night at the final awards ceremony. The first $500 award was for our successful (albeit last-minute) completion of the optional JAUS challenge. The second $500 award was for "perseverance in the face of adversity," an award we are very proud of. The results of the contest, as of the time of this posting, are not yet up on the website, but will soon be linked from this page as soon as they are up. On behalf of the entire club, I would like to thank all of our supporters. After a hectic week, we are all but too happy to finally be taking a break. We will resume work this fall for next years competition, so stick around for more news from the club this fall. Until then, go Mustangs!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Qualified!!
Since we were so desperately in need of a "reed switch"--the exterior kill switch required by the competition--the team spent a good part of last night on a mad hatter shopping trip, driving from store to store in search of the appropriate equipment. This was all made even more fun by stuffing all five of us into Andrew's little station wagon. (Have you met Nathan Huntoon? 6'7'') Apparently not all Wal-Marts are open 24 hours a day, and not all gas stations take credit cards, so our relatively simple mission sent us traveling through three cities and forced us to backtrack more than once. The guys were up until 2 am working hard on the submarine.
But, hard work has a tendency to yield positive results, and the team was soon to be rewarded. The reed switch bought at Wal-Mart was a failure--too weak for our purposes--but our friends at the Naval Academy came to the rescue with a spare switch of their own. Both officers and gentlemen, they are.
When it came time to do the all-important qualifying run, everything was prepared, and Seahorse 2 passed with flying colors. The diver who monitored the robot's journey through the gate said, "Well that was anti-climatic." No problems, no tricks: just smooth sailing. See for yourself and watch Austin's video of the event.
The rest of the day was a bit more laid back as the guys concentrated on the next obstacle: light detection. For those of you in the know, there was a problem with the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) method, but this was solved by switching to the simpler DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform). Once the code was fixed, the guys moved onto building, but not without a few pitfalls. Handy guys that they are, Nathan accidentally sautered his pants leg (that is, dropped melted metal on it) and Austin splattered his hand with epoxy. No pain, no gain, boys.
Tomorrow we'll try to qualify for the finals; our runs are scheduled for 9:20 am and 5:00 pm.
But, hard work has a tendency to yield positive results, and the team was soon to be rewarded. The reed switch bought at Wal-Mart was a failure--too weak for our purposes--but our friends at the Naval Academy came to the rescue with a spare switch of their own. Both officers and gentlemen, they are.
When it came time to do the all-important qualifying run, everything was prepared, and Seahorse 2 passed with flying colors. The diver who monitored the robot's journey through the gate said, "Well that was anti-climatic." No problems, no tricks: just smooth sailing. See for yourself and watch Austin's video of the event.
The rest of the day was a bit more laid back as the guys concentrated on the next obstacle: light detection. For those of you in the know, there was a problem with the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) method, but this was solved by switching to the simpler DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform). Once the code was fixed, the guys moved onto building, but not without a few pitfalls. Handy guys that they are, Nathan accidentally sautered his pants leg (that is, dropped melted metal on it) and Austin splattered his hand with epoxy. No pain, no gain, boys.
Tomorrow we'll try to qualify for the finals; our runs are scheduled for 9:20 am and 5:00 pm.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Breaking News: English Major Drafted Into SMU Robotics Club
So about the last place I expected to be right now was sitting at SMU's booth at a robotic submarine competition with a "Competitor" lanyard round my neck. But the Robotics Club summoned me to do my Mustang duty and I gleefully answered the call. We've decided that if anyone asks, I'm supposed to say I designed the light detection circuit (whatever that is). Club member Chris Pilcher was the actual designer, but he sadly could not attend. (Thanks for the cover, Chris!) As a technologically-illiterate English major, I feel like a spy in foreign territory.
Unlike soggy Dallas, the competition site in San Diego is temperate, sandy, and boasts a glorious ocean view. People--mostly young men--mill around comparing submarines and having technical conversations that might as well be in a foreign language for all I can understand them. The booth next to ours houses the United States Naval Academy. With their crew cuts and big, fancy robot, they're a little intimidating but very nice. On our other side is the team from San Diego, who have been really friendly and let the guys use their drill press. In fact, most everybody at the competition seems genuinely cooperative: teams borrow and lend each other tools and materials of all kinds. A couple of staff members just dropped by and listened to our wonderful story of theft and recovery; they offered to help us with anything we might need. Overall, it's a great environment to be working in.
A new development: the guys have just solved a last minute problem with some good old-fashioned Texas ingenuity. The little propellers on the robot are required to have "shrouds," which are covers that protect the divers in the water from getting their fingers chopped off by spinning propellers. What with the theft and all the hoopla surrounding it, those covers never got produced. In the last hour, these guys cut circles out of a kitchen cutting board and added the bottoms of plastic water bottles. Voila: instant propeller shrouds. The San Diego team looked on with grins. "Way to stick it to the man," one said, applauding the guys' decidely untraditional materials.
On a different note, what's the real purpose of an English major on a robotics team? Well, mostly, it was the easiest way to get me on the naval base. My fiancee, Andrew, and I are making San Diego the first stop on a month-long road trip, and I didn't much want to stay at the hotel for four days. But more importantly, I have an essential skill: the ability to write interestingly. I have thus designated myself Official Team Blogger. Austin didn't seem too upset to relinquish his blogging duties; I think he'd rather be writing code.
Apparently, the vastly important reed switch--which does something or other--has mysteriously gone missing. The drama never ends. Check back in tomorrow for the first day of actual judging.
Unlike soggy Dallas, the competition site in San Diego is temperate, sandy, and boasts a glorious ocean view. People--mostly young men--mill around comparing submarines and having technical conversations that might as well be in a foreign language for all I can understand them. The booth next to ours houses the United States Naval Academy. With their crew cuts and big, fancy robot, they're a little intimidating but very nice. On our other side is the team from San Diego, who have been really friendly and let the guys use their drill press. In fact, most everybody at the competition seems genuinely cooperative: teams borrow and lend each other tools and materials of all kinds. A couple of staff members just dropped by and listened to our wonderful story of theft and recovery; they offered to help us with anything we might need. Overall, it's a great environment to be working in.
A new development: the guys have just solved a last minute problem with some good old-fashioned Texas ingenuity. The little propellers on the robot are required to have "shrouds," which are covers that protect the divers in the water from getting their fingers chopped off by spinning propellers. What with the theft and all the hoopla surrounding it, those covers never got produced. In the last hour, these guys cut circles out of a kitchen cutting board and added the bottoms of plastic water bottles. Voila: instant propeller shrouds. The San Diego team looked on with grins. "Way to stick it to the man," one said, applauding the guys' decidely untraditional materials.
On a different note, what's the real purpose of an English major on a robotics team? Well, mostly, it was the easiest way to get me on the naval base. My fiancee, Andrew, and I are making San Diego the first stop on a month-long road trip, and I didn't much want to stay at the hotel for four days. But more importantly, I have an essential skill: the ability to write interestingly. I have thus designated myself Official Team Blogger. Austin didn't seem too upset to relinquish his blogging duties; I think he'd rather be writing code.
Apparently, the vastly important reed switch--which does something or other--has mysteriously gone missing. The drama never ends. Check back in tomorrow for the first day of actual judging.
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