Villanova University RobotX Team 2016

Today the team sat down for its weekly Wednesday meeting. From this talk, we have gathered that things are going pretty well for our team. The mechanical team is more or less finished everything, with the exception of field testing which is on-going. The LiDAR, IMU, and RGB components are all working well on their own, so it is now time to integrate the different systems into one collaborative effort. We have set up a few field tests to help this transition.

On June 17th, we conducted our weekly meeting with our counterparts at Florida Atlantic. The main purpose of these conferences is to make sure both teams are properly communicating and collaborating to ensure sufficient progress is made on both ends. Some of the main points of the discussion included the implementation of a secondary, submarine vehicle for one of the tasks, utilization of the A100, and the importance of submitting updated media to help lock in funding and sponsorship.

This LiDAR field test was performed at Haverford College pond on June 13, 2016. The results of this test were helpful, but did not fully meet the expectations prior to testing.

When the large orange buoy (～15 in. diameter) was placed on the water at a distance of 15-25 ft. from the LiDAR sensor, it could be seen on VeloView with three lines. When the smaller buoy (～6 in. diameter) was placed on the water, it was seen with only one line. Finally, a wooden post (10-15 ft. tall; 4 x 4 ft.) sticking out of the water at a distance 40-60 ft. away could be seen with three lines on VeloView.

Although the testing site was a sizeable pond, the LiDAR sensor picked up a lot of unwanted data from trees, bushes, and other objects surrounding the pond. This made it difficult to tell the difference between the objects trying to be detected and other objects. It was not yet determined whether a “nodding gimbal” will be used for the LiDAR sensor. It was determined that the programming for the sensor should be done taking into account no nodding before any type of nodding gimbal is introduced.

On Wednesday, the team conducted its first official field test. The main purpose of the test was to ensure that mechanical components, such as the thrusters, were in working order. To do so, the boat was re-wired to respond to radio control and users directed it around a small course. To our pleasure, the test was very successful and all aspects of the test were passed. Team members Anthony Marone, Mary Spillane, Ian Stankosh and team leader Winston Gresov were on hand to do the testing.

In order to correct previous malfunctions, implement new technology, and develop a better understanding of the previous technology used in the test boat, team members must dismantle the wiring in place while making sure to document in detail where connections were made so that the piece can be reassembled if necessary. Team members Anthony Marone, Karthik Polisetty, Mary Spillane, and Ian Stankosh are in charge of performing this task.

Pictured: Anthony Marone and Ian Stankosh begin documenting and dismantling the previous year’s test boat in order to prepare it for a new competition.

With exams drawing to a close, work has officially begun for the Villanova University RobotX team. As with any engineering project, it is essential to the early stages of our development on the RobotX boat that we have a detailed design created. The attached photo is a 3D model of SeaCat, the boat we will use for all of our local off-shore testing. The boat is approximately four feet long, so it is about four times smaller than the boat that will be used in the competition, and also has a slightly different design. Despite these differences, the application of the software and hardware will still yield the same results when applied to the full-size boat in Florida. All future modifications to the project will be made on both this digital representation as well as the actual boat, making this a “living” image. Team members Ian Stankosh and Mary Spillane, both undergraduate mechanical engineering students at Villanova, are in charge of this portion of the project.

Stay tuned for more updates from the team! Blogs will be posted regularly to this page.

Work has officially begun! Team members examine the testing boat and begin to prepare for the 2016 Maritime RobotX Challenge slated for this December in Hawaii.