(Image courtesy of Caltech.)
The robot submarine nicknamed “Dory” was Caltech’s entry into the 19th International RoboSub Competition, and brought home first prize for its proud team this summer.
The competition involves an elaborate obstacle course in which the RoboSubs must touch buoys, hit targets with torpedoes and retrieve an underwater object, all performed autonomously.
Dory achieved the highest score, while also being lauded as the “most beautiful robot in the competition” and performing various notable feats of autonomy, including a double barrel role (and achieving points for style in the process).
Apart from the primary task of building and designing the RoboSub, teams are also required to practice a number of important skills required for those seeking careers in engineering, including writing a technical paper detailing their design, making a presentation to the panel of judges, creating a short video showing their project and developing a website that documents their progress.
The Caltech team’s success is the result of hard work by the team at all hours, leading right up to the start of the competition – the software group was making tweaks to the hydrophone system mere hours before the race started.
Additionally, the Caltech engineers have been unafraid to innovate. They even went as far as completely redesigning their entry from the last three years the school competed (re-entry of old designs is allowed so teams can build on past victories).
Dory features seven thrusters, two grippers, the aforementioned hydrophone, and an array of other sensors.
(Image courtesy of Caltech.)
Upgrades in this year’s design included a wide-view camera inside a plastic bubble with two axes of rotation, making changing in the sub’s orientation no longer necessary to spot targets.
They also incorporated a specially designed dome over the top of the robot to allow for easy access to components.
"It's great to see the culmination of all of our efforts," said Tyler Okamoto, the team's project manager, and one of 18 representatives from Caltech's team at the competition.
This is the 3rd year that Caltech has participated in the competition, having come in 7th out of 39 and earning a “best newcomer” award in their first attempt, and placing 4th out of 37 teams in their second year.
To see more robotic submarines and the other winners and challengers at the International RoboSub Competition, check out their website.
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