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Underwater Autonomous Vehicle

1 Project Overview

The Underwater Autonomous Vehicle project is a multidisciplinary project in which students from several disciplines work together to build a robot for competition in the annual Underwater Autonomous Vehicle competition. This competition takes place in San Diego every year, and was created by AUVSI (The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International), in partnership with ONR (Office of Naval Research). Colleges from around the world come to compete with their robots at the TRANSDEC Navy facility for a week at the end of July. For this competition, each team builds a robot that can operate underwater and autonomously complete several tasks. These takes include such challenges such as using a vision system to navigate obstacles, finding targets with sonar, and utilizing mock weapons. Here at OSU, this challenge is being taken on by students from several disciplines. There are several sub teams made up of mechanical engineers, computer science majors, electrical engineers, business students, and members of the OSU robotics club. Since the end goal of this project is such a complex task, it requires interactions among many majors to ensure that the system itself will be successful.

The Computer Science team will write the control software that will allow for intelligent navigation and completion of the various competition tasks.

The Mechanical Engineering team will design and construct the robot body itself, as well as all of the required systems for movement and navigation.

The Electrical Engineering team will have the task of providing an interface between the software and the outside world. For example, sensors (likely with some type of vision system) and systems to control the electro-mechanical portions of the robot (which will provide locomotion, navigation, etc.) will need to be controlled by the central computer. This team will also be in charge of providing the power system for the robot.

The OSU Robotics Club will help with such tasks as a team website, creation of a team logo, and extra backup support.

This is OSU’s first year of having a team to compete in the challenge, so everything is being starting from scratch. It is hoped that this project will become part of the OSU Robotics Club, and will not only continue into subsequent years, but will be improved upon by future senior design teams.

Minimum Requirements

Create an underwater robot to compete in annual AUVSI competition
Must be battery powered and able to operate for 30+ minutes
Must be autonomous and remain submerged for entire match
Underwater navigation based on dead reckoning, and sensor and camera inputs
Control of 6 underwater thrusters for movement and turning in all dimensions
Target weight: 84lbs, but lighter is better

2 Needs Identification and Background Research
3 System Requirements and Desired Features
4 Design Solutions
5 Top Level Block Design

ECE related blocks
5.1 I/O Interface Board
5.2 Power Regulator
5.3 IMU
5.4 Range Finders
5.5 DVL
5.6 Leak Sensor
5.7 Pressure Sensor
5.8 Internal Sensors
5.9 Camera
5.10 Shore Power
5.11 Main Batteries
5.12 Interface Code