RoboBoat
The Competition
The RoboBoat Competition challenges students to build and program autonomous surface vehicles. This competition takes place annually, and it was last held in March in Sarasota, Florida.
The robot must complete a series of tasks autonomously, including obstacle field avoidance, docking, ball shooting, water shooting, and more! We performed well at RoboBoat 2023, and we're looking forward to improving our vehicle for 2024.
Crystal Clear
Crystal Clear is our autonomous surface vehicle built for Roboboat 2023! The name was inspired by the extensive use of plexiglass throughout the boat. We typically test the boat at Sweetwater Creek State Park as often as once a week.
We plan on improving the boat for RoboBoat 2024, with projects including hydrophone development, water shooter development, ball shooter refinement, projectile aiming software, SLAM development, and electrical system upgrades.
Mechanical Design
Two closed-cell foam pontoons milled, with multiple layers of epoxy and fiberglass added
6-motor H drive configuration, with custom-made motor mounts 3-d printed
Plexiglass bellypan, allowing for a flexible arrangement of electrical components
2-motor raquetball shooter inspired by the traditional flywheel shooter
Electrical Design
Two 14.8V LiPo and one 12V LiPo battery powering the computer, sensors, and motors
Teensy microcontroller bridging communication between the software and motors
Arduino Due microcontroller bridging communication between the software and auxiliary system motors
Software Design
Code written in Python and C++ under the ROS 2 framework
GPS and IMU used for localization
Two cameras and one LiDAR responsible for perception
Mapping capabilities with A*, RRT, and other path planners
Motor controller, supporting various motor configurations such as X and H drive
2024 Team Roster
Shawn Coutinho
Joshua Diao
Sean Fish
Santiago Fiz
Zachary Greenberg
Yiming Guo
Jorge Ortiz Solano
Ryan Otsuka
Manuel Roglan
Aaron Wu
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