Unmanned ground and aerial robots have undergone tremendous improvements over the past decade. On the other hand, underwater robotics is an area few would want to delve into simply because the water environment adds an additional complicated layer to progress. To add artificial intelligence to this underwater vehicle would be an even more challenging task. Nevertheless, a group of passionate undergraduates, sponsored by Hallin Marine, are looking to change this. This July in San Diego, they will be the first Singaporean team to participate in AUVSI ROBOSUB, the Super Bowl of underwater autonomous robotics competitions which has been ongoing for the past 16 years.
History of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), also known as an unmanned underwater vehicle, is a self-guiding and self-powered robot that is computer programmed prior to the vehicle’s submersion. The first AUV was developed as early as 1957 in the United States. AUVs are widely used for military, commercial and research purposes such as underwater mine hunting, detailed maps of the seafloor for oil and gas subsea infrastructure installation, conduction of precise underwater surveys, fisheries research, ocean exploration and more.
Team Bumblebee
Team Bumblebee is currently developing a competition-ready AUV. Team BBAUV (BumbleBee Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) has been developing a competition-ready, fully Autonomous Underwater Vehicle since June 2012. Put simply, an AUV is a robot that travels and does work underwater without any remote control assistance. The team consists of 10 students across 4 departments in National University of Singapore.
This July in San Diego, they will be the first Singaporean team to participate in AUVSI ROBOSUB, the Super Bowl of underwater autonomous robotics competitions which has been ongoing for the past 16 years.
Traditionally, subsea companies have been using Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to carry out surveillance and necessary operations of their underwater works. However over the past few years, there has been increased research and development in AUVs, which can serve as more efficient and cost-saving alternatives to ROVs. Singapore, like other countries, is also slowly investing in this area. AUVs do have great untapped potential moving forward, be it in the defense sector or for commercial deployments.
The team, though largely inexperienced, proved that their dedication, passion and determination, can translate to good results. In the recently concluded Singapore Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition (SAUVC) 2013, this NUS team beat all local AUV teams and was placed second, behind Far Eastern Federal University, a team featuring members with competitive experience in ROBOSUB.
The journey to that result was not easy. In terms of development, the difficulty of producing a competition-ready AUV in such a short time was evident from the SAUVC runs that went on for three days. Teams had to complete a 3-part obstacle course; passing an underwater gate, knocking a golf ball off an underwater flare, and making right angled turns using black guiding lines to surface into a specified ring. However, only the top 3 teams could make it past the underwater gate and only BBAUV and the Russian AUV were able to reach the surfacing zone.
The team also faced manpower and financing problems at the start.
“We will be competing with international teams with manpower that is double or even triple our size. This project requires dedicated students from different departments to work with each others’ hectic schedules. It is an integrative system where progress can be significantly delayed if there is a bottleneck anywhere in our team. Money was the next problem; our robot costs close to SGD20000 to build. To have Hallin Marine on board as our title sponsor cleared so many obstacles that could have crippled our development,” Ong Tian Chang, team leader of BBAUV shared.
However, only the top 3 teams could make it past the underwater gate and only BBAUV and the Russian AUV were able to reach the surfacing zone.
Moving forward for ROBOSUB
ROBOSUB will feature 11 more challenging tasks, which require a much more robust mechanical, software and vision framework. No static mapping of obstacles can be done as ROBOSUB organisers try to push teams’ development of their robots’ intelligence. It will be a tough fight for this young Singaporean team, competing against the top international schools such as Cornell and the University of Florida who have years of experience in ROBOSUB.
Nevertheless, the team remains dedicated and driven to deliver a good showing. With the assistance of their title sponsor Hallin Marine and sponsorship from LSWE, fabrication has begun to build a better machine for ROBOSUB. The vehicle hull and frame is entirely made up of aluminium. The mechanical upgrades include fitting new manipulators such as torpedoes, marker droppers and a robotic grabber. The sensors suite has also been improved to include a Teledyne’s Workhorse Navigator Doppler Velocity Log from Seatronics Group, PHOD-1 acoustic hydrophones and AHRS-8 Navigation Sensor from Sparton and a brand new mini ITX i7 from Aaeon Technologies. A comprehensive set of pool tests have been planned all the way through their departure from Singapore to San Diego.
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For anyone interested in this project, the vehicle is currently in NUS Engineering Auditorium Controls and Mechatronics Lab, EA-04-06. More updates can also be obtained from their team website at www.bbauv.com.