2014-2015 Infosession

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTOMECHATRONICS DESIGN

ASSOCIATION

WHO ARE WE?

• Design autonomous underwater vehicle/robotic submarine

• Compete at annual International RoboSub competition in San Diego

ROBOSUB COMPETITION?

• Underwater obstacle course in an anechoic sonar testing pool – TRANSDEC

• Hosted by AUVSI + RoboNation in San Diego

• Held in a military naval base

• Universities and engineering companies from all over the world

AUV DECOMMISSIONING

• Our Legacy AUV – AquaTux

AQUATUX SPECS AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Hull – hard to balance (ballasts)

• PVC-pipe frame

• 5 thrusters – 1 less degree of freedom

• Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)

• No automatic leak detection

• Netbook

TEAM BREAKDOWN

0. EXECUTIVE TEAM• Administration, logistics, organization

1. MECHANICAL TEAM• Hull, frame, component positioning/encasing

2. ELECTRONICS TEAM• Design electronic components to drive the submarine

and accomplish required tasks

3. SOFTWARE TEAM• Design high level task algorithms and low level vision

algorithms

MECHANICAL TEAMTeam Breakdown

WHAT THE TEAM COVERS

• Positioning of motors

• Placement of electronics within the submarine

• Framework for attaching additional peripherals

• Etc.

WHAT THE TEAM COVERS

SUBMARINE HULL

TORPEDO LAUNCHER

• Attached to the frame (or implemented to the hull)

• Objective: launch projectile to hit designated target

WHAT THE TEAM COVERS

MARKER DROPPER

• Drop markers into a target area

GRABBER

• Remove pegs from a board and put them back

HOW THE TEAM WORKS

WEEKLY MEETINGS

• Scheduled at the most convenient time

• Main goal: Brainstorming ideas and presenting progress

DESIGN SESSIONS/TUTORIALS (for people who are interested)

• CAD software – Solidworks, ANSYS, etc.

• 3D Printing

• Basic machining skills for submarine construction

ELECTRONICS TEAMTeam Breakdown

WHAT THE TEAM COVERS

ALL ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS INSIDE SUB

• Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

• Batteries and Power Management Circuits

• Motor Driver Circuits

• Instrumentation and Acquisition Circuits

• Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Interfacing Circuits

• Internal Wiring and Connectors

THE FPGA

• Interfaces sensors with software

• Determines signals to send to thrusters with a low-level control system to stabilize motion

• Communicates with high-level software with simple commands like get/set attitude

• Implements signal processing algorithms for triangulating SONAR pinger

PLANNED PROJECTS

ANALOG

• Complete/fabricate SONAR acquisition board

• Debug and iterate upon design

• Modify motor driver board

• Design wiring system for new hull

DIGITAL

• Complete High-Speed Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

• Design SONAR signal processing system

• Integrate and debug with analog SONAR system

• Begin design of new control system

SKILLS YOU WILL DEVELOP

USE INDUSTRY-LEVEL CAD TOOLS FOR:

• Circuit Simulation and Schematic Capture

• PCB Layout

• Digital Logic design with Verilog HDL

HANDS-ON SKILLS

• Soldering surface mount components

• The art of circuit debugging

• Signal processing basics

• Digital logic debugging

SOFTWARE TEAMTeam Breakdown

WHAT THE TEAM COVERS

• Program onboard Linux netbook with C++

• Work with real-time data input from FPGA

• Image processing algorithms and procedures

• Artificial Intelligence

• Simulator

NEW CODE ARCHITECTURE

• Logging

• Unit testing

• Design patterns

• MVC

• New simulator

• GUIs

• New vision algorithms

• OpenCV

• Graphics Card acceleration

THE PLAN

HOW THIS TEAM WORKS

• GitHub Repository

• Fork and Pull Method

• Weekly meetings in an agile, scrum-like environment

MEMBER EXPECTATIONS

• Attend weekly and team-wide meetings

• Commit to the tasks you set out to do

• Communication

• Communication

• Communication

WHY JOIN?

• Apply in-class theory to real-life applications

• Learn lots of new and interesting technologies that fit perfectly on your resume

• Interact with other universities and companies

• Talk to Alumni and PEY students

• Make new friends and expand your network!

QUESTIONS?Stay around and check out our club room