The electrical team is hard at work designing electrical systems that will improve the reliability of all robotic sub-systems. We are working hard to find and test hardware that meet the power efficiency, system stability, cooling and safety requirements needed to make an competitive robot. The team is interested in increasing the over all system performance and reducing system maintenance times.
We are using an Intel processor for the main video processing unit . This provides us with excellent power and efficiency for the video image processing, object tracking and navigation.
For system stability and flexibility we are using an Arduino Mega 2560 for all our surface controller needs. The Mega is used mainly to signal the electric speed controllers (ESC’s), which in turn control all of our underwater Blue Robotics T100 thrusters. Thanks to the open source nature of the Arduino hardware, many more additional devices can be connected and controlled with relative ease. Some of the recent add-ons include gyroscopes, GPS tracking and radio remote control capability.
We are also implementing efficient power distribution throughout the system by incorporating a power regulator specifically chosen for this robotic application. For cooling we are using a custom water cooling loop that will allow us to cool as many components as possible. Having all of the component running cooler they are ability to run for a extended pried of time in and out of the water. increasing the ability of the robot to run beyond the battery life and prevent damaging components from over heating.
For safety requirements, we started with an Arduino to quickly prototype and program the sub. We also use this platform to test and certify the proper systems before we use them underwater. Some tests include proper insulation, surge protection, drop or rotate tests and emergence shut off systems.