Sea Turtle Sentinel

Robot Operation

Sentinel drives along in a search pattern, periodically stopping to scan for sea turtle nests using a webcam. To keep the scope of the project manageable, the “sea turtle nests” were artificially marked with a colored target and a heat source. When Sentinel detects a potential sea turtle nest it approaches it and measure its temperature using a non-contact thermometer. If the nest is warm it will be classified as an "active" nest and its position will be logged using the GPS unit so that humans can then go out and place protective netting over the nest. Sentinel avoids potential obstacles using three ultrasonic sensors and three bump switches.

Robot Requirements and Components

• A drive system capable of traversing sandy terrain at a reasonably high speed. This is accomplished with four, independently powered wheels. The drive motors are controlled by four PWM motor controllers.
• Three sonar range finders and three bump switches allow for simple obstacle avoidance and detection.
• A GPS unit allows the robot to geo-tag the approximate location of potential sea turtle nests.
• A standard USB web camera is used to detect the colored target.
• An infrared, non-contact thermometer is used to detect the heat source.
• The camera, thermometer, and forward ultrasonic sensor are mounted to an observation mast. The observation mast is coupled to a servo allowing it to swivel 180 degrees.
• An Arduino DUE manages the decision-making, motors, encoders, servos, sonar sensors, touch sensors, non-contact thermometer, and GPS unit.
• An ODROID-U3 is used to handle the on-board vision processing.
• An LCD screen allows for on-site diagnostics.