To improve the adjustable buoyancy system, we decided on a new design with an old, damaged camera capsule we had on hand. We want to create a piston-like system that allows the volume of air inside the capsule to be adjusted when needed. This principle is similar to a syringe: when the piston retracts, the …
As the acoustics team continues development this year, the main priority for the hydrophone mount is modularity: the hydrophones may need to be moved around the robot for tests and the mounts may need to be quickly reprinted to accommodate different designs. Therefore, the hydrophone mount uses a two-part design. The first part is the …
Pros Our old design is minimal and compact, allowing it to be easily 3D-printed and assembled quickly. This design allows high adjustability as well: we can add as many buoyancy blocks as we want atop the mount. Moreover, we could easily mount this design on many parts of our robot because it simply wraps around …
The first step to secure the metal plate was to drill four additional holes into our stack plate. These will allow four additional standoffs to be mounted to hold the plate securely onto the capsule. We used a laser-cut jig to line up a hand drill and manually drilled each one. Then, we cut four …
The main point of failure on the front DepthAI camera mount was the interface between the ring and the frame mount. We ended up molding these two together into a single mount for a more structurally sound design.
We have several candidates right now for a permanent solution to our capsule problem: We ended up choosing the metal plate solution for several reasons. First, it was easiest: ordering a metal plate is relatively cheap, and we have experience making similar designs in-house. Moreover, this can be easily prototyped out of cheaper materials like …
The current battery and camera mounts frequently broke during competition, as the 3D printed mounts were put under a large weight continuously. The battery mounts in particular were prone to failure as they would be jostled around when we replaced the battery. In fact, during competition, we had to ask another team to print us …
Read more “Battery & Camera Mounts – Problems with the Old System”
Last year, we used a standard Polycase™ waterproof enclosure to house our electrical stack and keep water out. This capsule came with four brass inserts in the corners to press the capsule into the O-ring. Despite working initially, wear and tear from a year of use eventually degraded the plastic-brass bond, causing the brass inserts …
The Duke Robotics Club makes significant use of 3D printing to design and prototype crucial components for the team’s AUV. The demands of the club are difficult to keep up with, as club members print around the clock in the Co-Lab and the Foundry to stay on schedule with the pool tests. The need for …
As a freshman, I knew I wanted to join a project team where I could learn engineering skills, take on a complicated design challenge, and build something real. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing in the Duke Robotics Club (DRC). The club’s primary focus is designing, building, and programming an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for …
The sub is coming together! We have mounted the horizontal thrusters and attached the pressure hulls to the frame. Mechanical is now working on attaching the hull connectors. We aim to do our first swim test next week and begin tuning our PID controllers.
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