Design Rationale

Our ROV, Waldo XVII, is engineered to complete underwater tasks with stability, precision, and safety. Each feature is designed to mirror real-world applications such as marine research, infrastructure inspection, and recovery operations.

Frame Design – Robust & Adaptable

Feature: Extruded Aluminum frame
Benefit: Easy to assemble, transport, and modify - fully modular and adjustable
Real-World Connection: Enables rapid deployment and easily changeable design, with potential for parts to be added or removed without compromising the ROV’s structure
Safety: Sealed electronics and smooth edges prevent water damage and protect people and marine environments

Buoyancy & Stability System

Feature: Base weights, buoyancy floats, and adjustable balance
Benefit: Maintains neutral buoyancy and prevents tipping
Real-World Connection: Supports stability for precise and long-duration tasks like environmental monitoring and sample collection, ensuring it doesn’t drift or tip. Allowing for minimal strain on the thrusters
Safety: To not interfere with marine floor when collecting data, weights and floats are securely attached

Motor Configuration – Precise Movement

Feature: 2 vertical + 2 directional motors
Benefit: Allows controlled depth, movement, and rotation
Real-World Connection: Allows for a fully maneuverable ROV, which could be used in pipeline inspection, underwater maintenance, etc.
Safety: Propellers are shrouded to IP-20 standards using 3D printed covers so fingers and marine life don’t get caught in the blades of the motor

Mechanical Claw – Task Interaction

Feature: Durable gripping system
Benefit: Enables secure object retrieval and manipulation
Real-World Connection: Used in debris removal, marine sampling, and salvage missions
Safety: Caution signs on the side of the claw for awareness of moving parts

Camera System – Enhanced Navigation

Feature: Three waterproof cameras (backwards facing teather, facing claw, facing forwards)
Benefit: Provides real-time multi-angle visibility, specifically positioned to view any tangles with the tether or interference with the ROV itself, as well as the tasks
Real-World Connection: Supports tasks like coral reef monitoring, shipwreck exploration, and structural inspection, ensuring the pilot can manuver the ROV remotely
Safety: Used red tape in front of the cameras to highlight location and screws are covered with waterproof tape

Control System – Remote Operation

Feature: Wired handheld joystick controller modelled off of drones, for real-time operation
Benefit: Allows easy and precise immediate control of movement, depth, and the claw
Real-World Connection: Reflects how professional ROV pilots control underwater robots during inspections, repairs, and exploration missions
Safety: Wires are tethered together to prevent high and low voltage crossing, 3D printed to ensure no sharp edges, seamless ergonomic design for fingers and wrists, neon pink colour for visibility

Electronics System – Internal Control

Feature: Four ESCs, Arduino board, and organized wiring housed inside a sealed, pressurized electronics tube

Benefit: Enables precise motor control, reliable signal processing, and protects components from water damage while keeping the system organized and easy to maintain

Real-World Connection: Similar to how professional ROVs use protected control systems to ensure stable operation, efficient troubleshooting, and long-term reliability in underwater missions

Safety: All power ran through a 10amp fuse to prevent burnout of electonics or wires, use of Anderson powerpoles

Verticle Profiler

The Waldo XVII vertical profiler (VP) is a direct scale model of the Argo floats used by oceanographers to monitor climate change in the world's most remote environments. By measuring temperature and pressure throughout the water column, they provide the data necessary to predict sea-level rise, track global heat absorption, and monitor the health of marine ecosystems. In the context of Task 4, the VP simulates the critical mission of collecting data under polar ice, turning a technical challenge into a high-stakes scientific operation that mirrors how we currently study the Arctic and Antarctic.

To maximize performance and safety, Waldo XVII utilizes a syringe-based buoyancy engine and a PID control loop to achieve the precise depth-holding requirements of the mission. This engineering approach ensures the device can maintain stability at 2.5 meters and 40 cm without surfacing prematurely and incurring an "ice contact" penalty. Furthermore, integrated safety features—such as mechanical limit switches to prevent motor stall and an autonomous "emergency ascent" fail-safe—protect the electronics and ensure the profiler can always be recovered. These systems work in tandem to provide a reliable, automated data-collection platform that meets every requirement of the MATE competition rubric.

Page updated

Report abuse