CUAUV’s 2007 competition vehicle is named Proteus. Proteus is the mythological son of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, also commonly referred to as the old man of the sea. He is famous for his ability to change shape – a perfect symbol for our new vehicle which has morphed from the SeaMonkey into a sleek and even more reliable new model.
Proteus is a 40" long x 20" tall vehicle that will have the ability to autonomously complete tasks under water. The vehicle is smaller, lighter, faster, and more efficient than any of the team’s previous vehicles.
The new design is able to balance functionality and performance. The two bottom pods are designed as battery hulls that can easily be removed from the vehicle, even while the vehicle is up and running. This new battery design will not interrupt onboard electronic operations, which will allow the team to remove one battery while the vehicle runs on the other.
Proteus uses a clear hull, allowing machine vision cameras to reside within the hull. Inside the hull are LCD’s and LED’s which provide status information about the vehicle. Downward sensors are placed along the central axis of the vehicle, including a downward camera, an altimeter (ranging sonar) and the marker dropper.
The vehicle has four thrusters, two for forward/back motion and yaw, and two for up/down motion and pitch control. Unlike our past designs where the rack was removed from the hull, the Proteus’s hull remains fixed to the rack and the entire hull is removable. This eliminates faulty connections which can cause signal path problems. Having this design also allows the team to remove the hull without shutting down the vehicle. It allows us to perform dock-side tasks faster and more efficiently. In the past, the team did not have this ability to alter electronics dockside; now, we can test the upper hull electronics and make changes while it is connected to the thrusters and sensors.
Subsystems:
