Blog
Packed and Shipped
Jul 12, 2012
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After a great last week of testing, we’ve been busy getting things ready for the trip to San Diego. First up for SubjuGator 7: a nice bath with Patrick. Well actually, the only shower at the pool was in the locker room, so we had to do what we had to do. Chlorine and anodization don’t get along! Next, we organized our equipment into categories based on utility and daily use. Pre-packing included sorting boxes which stay at the hotel, travel to the Transdec but stay in the car, and ar
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Mission Testing
Jul 08, 2012
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Since the leak and thruster failures last week, the team has gotten SubjuGator 7 back up and running. The team has been busy developing and debugging missions for the RoboSub competition. The videos below showcase our current progress on several fronts. Our vision system has been working very well, even in varying outdoor lighting conditions (fitting for the San Diego coast). Hopefully all of our outdoor testing will be advantageous come competition time. The first video demonstrates template id
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Leaks and failures
Jul 03, 2012
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The end of June has been rough for SubjuGator 7. Our new pneumatic actuator box managed to form a small leak through our potting material (resulting in ~1cm of water in the box, but no catastrophic electrical failures) and we have now had two Seabotix thrusters completely seize this year (with <12 months use, not surprising given past track records with this brand). Pending replacement cables and potting for the pneumatic housing and the arrival of one additional new thruster, we expect to be
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Raining Cats and Submarines
Jun 24, 2012
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We had an unexpected visitor stop by today. Her name is Debby. Tropical Storm Debby, that is. However, she didn’t stop us from testing at the pool. 30 mph winds, drenching rain (the sub didn’t mind), and a few waterlogged engineers can’t stop our motivation. We’re excited to have successfully completed all of our goals for the day, despite the wet inconvenience. As of the time of this post, it has been raining for 14 straight hours. Go Gators!
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Trajectory Generation
Jun 22, 2012
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Probably the most visible software change to the sub is our new trajectory generator. It uses a non-linear filter to produce trajectories that are 3rd-order continuous, which our non-linear RISE controller then tracks to produce a smooth moving vehicle. This how our vehicle operated last year with our old trajectory generator, but the new generator brings some new capabilities. Here’s the trajectory it produces for our sub when told to move forward 2 meters, then drive backwards to the ori
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The Refactoring
Jun 20, 2012
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This year has primarily been a software year for Team SubjuGator, as our excellent mechanical and electrical systems which were completely redesigned last year have proved to be very reliable and extensible. We began the year with a large scale refactoring that eventually reached every worker process that runs on the sub. Our communications framework, DDS, allowed us to keep the sub operational at all points during the refactoring, because though workers were changing sometimes dramatically on t
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New hydrophone board
Jun 07, 2012
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We’re proud to announce that our new hydrophone board is nearing completion. The 4 layer board was designed and populated in-house by team members. It features higher sampling rates, better analog design and cleaner filtering. While our current board has been successful for several years, the new design will bring added robustness to our signal processing and acoustic beacon navigation. More testing details to come soon!
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Spring Updates
May 07, 2012
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The team has been busy working to improve the software architecture of SubjuGator 7 throughout the spring semester. We have had several successful tests at the pool. Noteworthy successes include: Automated routines for magnetometer calibration Automated routines for compass calibration A C4 continuous trajectory generator with coordinated Euclidean motion Numerous controller bug fixes and improvements including compensation for directional thruster performance Added abilities to command pitch an
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Fall Publicity
Dec 08, 2011
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Team SubjuGator recently participated as part of the University of Florida Robotics Fair. The Florida Alligator wrote a nice article about the event which you can read here. Expect pictures from the event to be posted soon! The SubjuGator project was also recently featured in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering’s Fall newsletter. The newsletter is also available online to read here. We will have a Fall project update posted soon. Stay tuned.
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Machine Intelligence Laboratory | University of Florida