Freshman project: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)

Like many other schools, our school has developed robotics projects using commercial products such as Lego Mindstorms for its Freshman Engineering course. These projects have been well-received by many students1. However, some Freshman students have commented that they wanted something different and more challenging than land-based robotics. To meet this demand, we have developed an underwater test field that requires an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to perform various tasks. These tasks necessitate the design and construction of AUVs that operate on the surface of water, on the bottom surface under water, as well as when running submerged in between. The construction cost for material for the underwater test field was kept below $1000. Many students are familiar with LEGO robotics on dry land. AUVs present many new challenges: waterproofing conventional LEGO components, buoyancy, balance, and 3-D motion. Since completion of various tasks contributes different point values, the final total point value is a measure of how well the AUV has performed. This is the basis for a lively design competition between Freshman Engineering teams.