Whirligig

I might be breaking some LMR rules, but this robot was built on my spare time while funded by the University of Oslo and my employer APPLY Sørco, covering the hardware cost.<o:p></o:p>This robot was built to make bathymetric charts of lakes in Norway. It was initiated by my brother who is a professor at UiO. Totally disregarding my lack of engineering skills, an over estimating my programming / electronic skills he commissioned me to build ‘Whirligig’.
The robot navigates according to GPS coordinates stored as waypoints on an onboard SD card. Logging GPS and water depths along its rout (every 10 sec.). The estimated runtime is 24 hour before it needs recharging of the 7 batteries.

As you can see from the attached PDF file (in Norwegian only, sorry) am I working on a second version of this robot. This time using solar panels and a catamaran hull for more flexibility on payload and stability.

This is a block diagram of the control system

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The original plan was using an ardupilot, but I ended up with using a regular arduino and building my own navigation software.

<o:p>Google sketchup of the design</o:p><o:p></o:p><o:p>Some images from the hull build</o:p><o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p>

All the decks laid out showing the position of motor and instrumentation batteries

Testbed for instrumentation and navigation check.

Instrumentation mounted in top deck and lid.

Waterproof box enbeded in the lid. Holding SD cards for waypoint and log data, GPS and charging plugs.

My daughter doing water intrusion test :slight_smile:

 

I am currently building a Mark II version with a complete new hull. This version will be self-contained with power from solar cells and upload data and getting waypoints via a GPRS shield.
This version will also have a full-size computer onboard, the fit PC2.

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Mapping water depths in lakes

  • Actuators / output devices: Propeller, 600 RPM gear motor
  • CPU: Picaxe 28x1, Arduino
  • Power source: 7 12V 12Ah batteries
  • Programming language: Picaxe basic, Arduino C++
  • Sensors / input devices: GPS, Transducer
  • Target environment: Lakes, shore lines

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/whirligig

you are…
awesome, thats so cool

Now that’s impressive.

That is terrific work, Mr Andersen! I want one! (Don’t know what I’d do with it …)

Is the yellow ‘skin’ fibreglass?

Really neat

Looks like a great job! Thanks for pointing out the fit PC2, I’ve never heard of it before but it seems really cool. I’m kinda obsessed with small fanless computers…

 

Also, as a respectable alternative to the PC2 there is also the Beagleboard. (http://beagleboard.org/) It’s open-source and everything, but you might find it more limiting because it’s really only meant to run Linux. But then again, if you’re used to Linux, thats great.

Thats correct

The hull was made up of 2 layers of yellow gelcoat and 4 layers of epoxy / fiberglass.
Mayby a bit overkill, but it Won’t Sink :slight_smile:

I’m used to program on the

I’m used to program on the .NET platform so the fit PC2 with a full-blown Windows 7.0 would suit me fine. Whit the built in wireless I can control it (within range) by remote desktop. When it is on a mission, the communication will be based on GPRS.

Thanks for the Beagleboard link by the way.

OK
How are you going to power the PC2? Like, with an inverter? Or will you take out the power supply and give it 12v directly?

The plan is to store the
The plan is to store the energy from the 120W solar panel into LiFePO4 batteries and draw the current from there.
The hull has room for 2 of these http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo4battery128v20ah256wh60aratewopcm-replaceslawith10timeslongerlife.aspx (in each hull) batteries giving us 80Ah of power if the weather goes bad. <o:p></o:p>

This is the kind of project
This is the kind of project that amazes me! Great looking and has cool features, the one I mostly like is the GPS navigation!
Will look for more developments!
Congrats :wink:

I have no clue to why this
I have no clue to why this should break any LMR rules! It is 100% cool, thank you so much for sharing with us!

You mentioned wireless

You mentioned wireless communications using remote desktop. You could use a USB cellular stick for laptops to get a longer range depending on the cellular network at your house or at its final location.

 

Great tip, thank you.

That would be a great help during the debug fase.
On a mission i think normal GPRS communication with burst of data every hour would be enough.

Makes sence!BTW thanks for

Makes sence!

BTW thanks for mentioning the Fit PC2. I was looking at mini computers for some ideas and this is a good one.

mega cool
I too want one! I also don’t know what I’d do with it.

Wow, nice boat! I would
Wow, nice boat! I would really like to know how you are going to tackle the GPS navigation via PC once you have that setup? On the Mark one the stabilizer looks really big, any reason for that? Looks like it will cause a lot of drag?

Handling the GPS from a PC
Handling the GPS from a PC will probably be much easier since the Arduino has a limited string handling capabilities. The information from the GPS is just ASCII characters sent over a com port in accordance with the NMEA protocol.<o:p></o:p>The large center hull holds all the motor and instrumentation batteries. Giving it at total weight of 50kg. The aim was to set it as low in the water as we could so it wouldn’t drift from wind or weather.
The hull is completely watertight so water can flow over it if it is hit by a wave.
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Amazing project.
Amazing project.

Wow!! That’s master piece of

Wow!! That’s master piece of work! Really pro~ I hope I could work with people like you. This is a fun job and learned a lot too!

" Totally disregarding my

" Totally disregarding my lack of engineering skills, an over estimating my programming / electronic skills he commissioned me to build ‘Whirligig’."

It’s wonderful what people can do when they want to do something, even if they don’t know how to do it.

What you’ve shown is, despite not knowing where you’re going, or really how to get there, you applied yourself and did it.

What you DIDN’T have was people telling you that you couldn’t do it, or that the project was beyond your expertise - in fact, you had the opposite, and I think that was probably important.

It’s just a great project.

It’s just a great project. For your “lack of engineering skills” did you a very impressive job. Well done.