Autonomous Surface Watercraft Sponsor: Dr. D. Dunlap Advisor: Dr. J. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Design and Development of an Autonomous Surface Watercraft

Sponsor: Dr. D. Dunlap Advisor: Dr. J. Clark Instructors: Dr. N. Gupta, Dr. C. Shih Team 18: Donald Gahres, Kyle Ladyko, Samuel Nauditt, Teresa Patterson Presenters: Donald Gahres, Kyle Ladyko, Samuel Nauditt, Teresa Patterson

13 April 2017

Overview

• Project Introduction
• Prototype Design
• Prototype Construction: The Boogie-Boat
• Finalizing: The Party-Barge
• Overall Results
• Scheduling
• Resource Allocation
• Summary
• Q & A

2

Presenter: Teresa Patterson

The Competition

• AUVSI International Roboboat

Competition

• Objective:

○ Design an unmanned surface vehicle to perform a series of tasks

• Mimics tasks being studied and

implemented by port and coastal security forces

3

Presenter: Teresa Patterson

Competition Tasks

• Weight/Thrust Measurement
• Basic Navigation
• Obstacle Avoidance
• Automated Docking
• Interoperability
• Acoustic Beacon/Pinger Location
• Return to Dock

4

Presenter: Teresa Patterson

Real World Applications of Competition Tasks

• Types of Mines

○ Contact Mines ○ Influence/Acoustic Mines

• Buoy Navigation

○ Mimics field of contact mines

• Acoustic Pinger & Interoperability

○ Deployment of mine-hunting sonar systems ■ AN/AQS-20A ■ AMNS

• 2017 Predicted Drone Task

○ Northrop Grumman ALMDS 5

Presenter: Teresa Patterson

Project Scope

• Goal Statement: Create a lightweight surface vehicle capable of maneuvering a

course autonomously with a focus on obstacle avoidance, waypoint navigation, and color and shape recognition while remaining versatile for later subsystems to be added.

6

Presenter: Teresa Patterson

Conceptualization

• Brainstormed various small watercraft designs
• Researched the monohull, catamaran, and trimaran platforms
• Team read through past teams’ reports including the winners of the competition

7 Catamaran Hull Trimaran Hull Monohull

Presenter: Donald Gahres

• Catamaran hull is more stable and easier to build
• Has been successful in past for multiple teams
• Fixed variable speed thrusters
• Differential thrust
• Electronics placed for easy access
• Allows for multiple systems to be added

Design Selection

8

Presenter: Donald Gahres

Prototyping

• Team 18’s first “funky prototype”

○ Boogie board monohull ○ Two thrusters ○ Initial Colored Object Detection tested ○ Manual control tested

• Prototype allowed team to see how

subsystems interacted with each other

○ i.e vision with motion control 9

Results of Prototype Tests

• Two prototype wet tests performed

○ Autonomous channel marker navigation achieved ○ Subsystem integration successful ○ Manual control successful

• Prototype issues

○ Changing color values at dusk

• Changes made:

○ User-input color selection 10

Party-Barge Construction: Hull

• Compression fit
• Versatile 8020 platform
• Waterproof access hatches
• Dual thruster installation
• Weight:

○ Currently: 70 lbs ○ Future teams can iterate to obtain bonus points when attending competition 11

Presenter: Donald Gahres

Party-Barge Construction: Electronics Housing

• Large container chosen for ease of
• rganization and later versatility
• All electronic components attached

to a raised acrylic platform.

• Electronic housing remains
• rganized and capable of adding

more electrical components

12

Presenter: Donald Gahres

CAD Modeling

13

Presenter: Donald Gahres

Mechatronics: Device Layout

14

Presenter: Kyle Ladyko

Mechatronics: Manual and Color Based Navigation

• Can be controlled via Xbox controller
• Ability to traverse forward, reverse, and

perform zero-point turns.

• Uses HD webcam mounted on front
• Utilizes OpenCV to search for objects

based on their color and relative size

• Throttle thrusters to aim for midpoint of

buoy pair using feedback control

15

Presenter: Kyle Ladyko

Mechatronics: Obstacle Avoidance

• Manufactured rotating LIDAR assembly to map

environment and obstacles

• Achieved centimeter level positioning using

Real-Time Kinematic GPS

• Integrated tilt-calibrated IMU to account for

waves on surface

• Utilized Vector Field Histogram algorithm for
• bstacle avoidance and path planning
• VFH is computationally less costly than

previous in-work method of SLAM.

16

Presenter: Kyle Ladyko

Testing Results

17

Test Description Competition Constraints Party-Barge Performance Status

Vehicle Weight > 140 lbs 70 lbs Pass Vehicle Buoyancy Positively Buoyant Positively Buoyant Pass Vehicle Size <= 3ft x 3ft x 6ft 3ft x 3ft x 5ft Pass Watertight Hull None Yes Pass Channel Marker Navigation Required Task 80% Pass Buoy Field Navigation Required Task 60% In Progress Thrust Output > 0 lbf 3 lbf Pass

Presenter: Kyle Ladyko

Video

18

Presenter: Kyle Ladyko

Challenges Faced

• Team & time management

○ Especially in the winter months when daylight was shorter

• Integration of code

○ Autonomous control ○ Manual control bugs

• LIDAR

○ Path planning, functionality of the LIDAR ○ Attachment to boat ○ Poor connections

• Recognition of hue and saturation

values

○ Ongoing 19

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt

Lessons Learned

• Scheduling for testing
• Early prototyping allowed for ample time to correct issues
• Familiarity with autonomous systems
• Split the group more and have an even divide on who is given what task

○ Mechanical work vs. Mechatronics work 20

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt

The Future of Roboboat

• Further refinement of autonomous systems
• Implementation of impact detection and subsystems for future competition tasks
• Look into cooling systems for the electronics housing
• Iteration of weight
• Install LIDAR

21

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt

Resource Allocation

• Initial Budget: $2000
• Remaining Budget: ~$1000
• Resources from Robosub:

○ Thrusters ○ Camera ○ Electronics ○ Raw materials

• Suggestions:

○ Pre-built LIDAR ○ Router ○ External computer screen 22

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt 36% 12% 2% 50%

Roboboat Budget Breakdown

Electrical Hull Test Setup Remaining

Summary

• Successfully built a positively buoyant watercraft that can:

○ Avoid buoys and channel markers autonomously ○ Be controlled manually ○ Be easily iterated by future teams for different competition tasks

• Future work:

○ Integration of future tasks with current autonomous logic ○ Iteration of watercraft weight to score bonus points during competition ○ Integration of drone systems for future tasks

23

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt

Questions?

24

Presenter: Samuel Nauditt