Carrillo Underwater Systems Scholarship

for MATE ROV Design Competition Participants

CATE Center - Team Triton

This week's goals: Establish a solid structure design utilizing AutoCAD and our design ideas.

This week's timeline: Complete basic drawings and develop or design ideas. We give ourselves 8 out of 10 for how well we are meeting our timeline.

Accomplishments: We completed the basic design in AutoCAD, received the scholarship, and have a supply list started.

Some things we had a hard time with are: We have been testing a prototype we built several weeks ago, and the main problem we have had with that structure is balance. We added static buoyancy in form of pool noodles, and then changed the placement of our inner tube, which proved to solve to problem.

We give ourselves 9 out of 10 for our overall progress level.

Some ways we could improve are: Balancing the ROV during underwater operations, deflating our inner tube quicker, and making the structure as small as possible.

Some things we are doing well: Our current pneumatic system is functioning well, and we have some great design ideas for completing the mission tasks.

Some things we learned are: Placement of the inner tube should be at the highest point on the structure, while still being inside of the ROV for maximum stability. We also need to design a way of attaching the inner tube to the structure so it doesn't balloon up at certain points.

Some questions we've had are: Will our ROV be buoyant or sink? Or will it be neutrally buoyant and if so, at what depth? How can we deflate our inner tube faster without increasing pressure to the Airvac?

We've found answers to those questions by: We've used our prototype model to solve buoyancy issues, and we are still testing different arrangements to deflate our inner tube faster.

Some things we'd like to share: We greatly appreciate the support Carrillo Underwater has given us with the grant of cameras and accessories, because these will allow us to begin the building the ROV sooner and begin practicing earlier.

Next week's goals: We need to meet several times next week outside of class because of spring break, which is when we will get a complete supply list together, buy or order the parts online, discuss the final design of the ROV, and add on to our current pneumatic controls to allow for the new cylinders we will use to complete tasks.

Next week's timeline: Meet several times during the week, depending on team members' schedules, and get all the supplies ordered or bought. Next, we will begin altering our pneumatic system to compensate for additional parts, and then be sure we all understand the complete layout of our design and systems for the final product.

Our advisor says: "I am very proud of the students that are working on this project, and they are well deserving of this recognition."