Proteus and sundown with the Swiss mountains within the background at Lake Thun (picture credit score: Gallus Kaufmann)
In 2018, Christian Engler felt he’d studied sufficient concept on the ETH Zurich and longed to place all of it into follow. It was evident to Christian that the easiest way to get hands-on expertise was to start out one thing himself. Others weren’t so certain. Particularly once they heard about his ambition to revive a mission from highschool.
The mission concerned underwater robots, also referred to as Remotely Operated Autos (ROVs). However now Christian needed to step it up a gear. He not solely needed to construct an ROV, however he additionally needed to participate on the worldwide MATE ROV Competitors 2019 – the largest ROV competitors on the earth. His ardour motivated an additional seven college students and Tethys Robotics was born.
Begin of the journey
To have the ability to compete at a excessive degree, Tethys Robotics wanted assist. The primary supporter was and nonetheless is Professor Siegwart and his Autonomous Methods Lab (ASL). As a result of a earlier mission, SCUBO, the group had the prospect to learn from their expertise and had been ready to make use of their carbon fibre shell to construct their model of the underwater robotic, the SCUBO 2.0.
SCUBO taking a sunbath at Lake Zurich (picture credit score: Gallus Kaufmann)
Whereas the unique SCUBO was developed to movie coral reefs, the brand new model of SCUBO needed to be tailored to fulfil the duties on the MATE ROV Competitors. To forestall damaging the coral reefs, the unique SCUBO had a distinct place and orientation of the eight actuators (also referred to as thrusters) at the price of stability and management. Moreover, no batteries had been allowed on the competitors within the robotic. For that purpose, your entire electronics, software program interface and controlling needed to be redesigned to have the ability to participate on the competitors.
Primarily, the sensors of each SCUBO variations are the identical consisting of Angle and Heading Reference System (AHRS), stress sensor, stereo digicam and temperature sensor.
The one draw back was that the ASL didn’t have sufficient area to accommodate us. Due to this fact, we ended up working within the lab’s basement. However this didn’t have an effect on our motivation – now full with ‘storage start-up’ vibe – or the profitable consequence. Tethys Robotics was the primary Swiss group ever to compete. Out of 75 groups, Tethys got here in at ninth place.
Actual world functions
After the competitors, SCUBO 2.0 was showcased at varied exhibitions. That is how we got here throughout the divers from the Swiss Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), whose mission is to retrieve misplaced ammunition from Swiss lakes. Since this can be a harmful and really difficult process for divers, Tethys began collaborating on an underwater robotic as much as the duty. The robotic needed to be modular, light-weight, and simply deployable. With the assist of the ASL, the algorithms developed for drones have been carried out to the underwater drones of Tethys Robotics. And by having a number of checks on the operation website with the EOD divers and clean ammunition, the brand new underwater robotic Proteus was developed with an actual world software in thoughts. With their assist, Proteus has been developed to be modular and extra targeted for use as a diver buddy as a substitute of working individually. Particularly, the underwater drone can be utilized as a carry for materials and as a communication system to the highest aspect.
Challenges and way forward for Proteus
There have been many adjustments to the design and the appliance area between the competitors robotic and the brand new Proteus. Proteus is ready to be deployed in each Swiss lake (+300 m depth ranking) and is powered once more, as the unique SCUBO, by batteries. The communication and digicam streams are transmitted by way of a fiber optics cable to a management station on the shore. Furthermore, along with the sensors utilized in SCUBO, Proteus has been upgraded with sensors primarily used for localization and orientation underwater which include a sonar, Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL), acoustic Brief Baseline system (SBL) and occasion cameras.
Proteus mission setup (picture credit score: Gallus Kaufmann)
The present analysis focuses on the development of the underwater localization. The totally different sensors usually are not correct, quick or strong sufficient for use in Swiss lakes and particularly rivers. Due to this fact, a sensor fusion algorithm is being carried out to mix some great benefits of the totally different sensors. Moreover, Tethys Robotics is looking for additional functions and an applicable market phase to place the developed underwater drones. By discovering additional companions and curiosity, the mission might make the transition to an organization and develop the prototypes to remaining merchandise.
tags: c-Analysis-Innovation
Andrej Studer
is the Co-Founder and Robotics Engineer at Tethys Robotics, a pupil mission in underwater know-how
Andrej Studer
is the Co-Founder and Robotics Engineer at Tethys Robotics, a pupil mission in underwater know-how