October, 2008

Progress is underway! First wewould like to thank Northrop Grumman, the ECE Department and Analog Devices for their support this year. We currently have teams working on a new acoustics system and a new hull. Due to time constraints, we have decided to continue working with a PC-based design.

September, 2008

~2008 Engineering Welcome Back Bash~

This was a fun event- Nothing beats a free catered meal- Especially after a long day of classes. Many thanks to the College of Engineering staff who put the event together. Although our booth was tucked away from the main event, we still managed to gather a list of nearly 30 potential new members. Our club president, Brooks Stephenson, came up with a "crossword scavenger hunt" for the event that pretty much ensured everyone who attended had to visit every booth if they wanted to win...

08/21/08

We had our first team meeting of the 2008 Fall semester. Discussion took place over plans for this year's goals and recruiting. Most importantly, we talked about hardware upgrades and a possible change in hull design.

August, 2008

First of all, let me say thanks to all of our sponsors who supported us this previous year, and in the past. Our newest sponsor, Hitec, recently donated a number of high-end servos. Thank You!

We just returned from the AUVSI competition in San Diego. Although we pre-qualified very early, we did not make it to the qualifying rounds due to a faulty electrical connection between the E-Tube and the port servo. In short, the port servo failed to work, allowing the thruster to rotate freely. The problem was discovered too far down the road, and we lost our chance. Nonetheless, we continued to work on Seawolf during the remainder of our stay. Check back soon for pictures!

12/21/07
Our team is hard at work compiling and porting code for Seawolf III's FPGA-based platform.

September, 2007
This marks the start of an exciting new year with the Underwater Robotics Club. We are currently recruiting new members who are interested in the project. Seawolf II has served us well, but we plan to retire it to clear way for our third-generation craft, Seawolf III. Stay tuned!!

10/3/06
Final standings from the competition have been posted. We scored 3rd in craftsmanship!
Final Points Breakdown

8/11/06
We ranked 9th at the AUVSI International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego. Although we could have done better, several last minute problems kept us from performing our best. Still, we're proud of this accomplishment and we're proud of Seawolf II. We're going to work hard this year and hopefully bring home the gold next Summer.

7/25/06
Thanks to Tara Britt in the ECE department for purchasing us a spare computer, IMU, and set of batteries.

7/13/06
We have fiberglass shells! Thanks to Chris Hei for his help and Gale Lane for donanting materials.

7/11/06
Harris Corporation agrees to donate $2500 to URC. Thanks to Tara Britt for getting this funding for us!

6/10/06
Teledyne Benthos donated a pinger!

The thrusters have arrived. Thanks to Seabotix for a substantial discount.

We have developed software to drive the vehicle using a game controller!

5/23/06
Congratulations to all the Senior Design participants and thank you for all your hard work! Senior Design Day was a big success!

We have a new lab space for the summer in EB2 room 2004! Come check it out.

2/21/06
Seawolf II has ears!

The AUV page has been updated with some documents released by the Senior Design groups. A PowerPoint presentation has also been released covering Seawolf II and the Senior Design projects. We would like to welcome High Tech, Inc to our list of sponsors! They graciously donated a set of hydrophones (underwater microphones) for Seawolf II.

Be Seawolf II's friend!

 

1/27/06
The Preliminary 2006 AUVSI rules have been posted!

Keep up to date with our events with our calendar!

We have pictures from last year's competition in our image gallery.

1/20/06 - Message from the President

The Underwater Robotics Club (URC) celebrated its first anniversary this past fall. The URC has grown past its original twelve Electrical and Computer Engineering students to include students from other majors-Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. The club is a great opportunity for a wide variety of students to gain hands-on experience with real engineering goals that stay with them into the professional world.

For the 2005 AUVSI competition, the club was able to work with a local robotics company, Vortex HC, to produce a head-turning 6DoF underwater vehicle. The final vehicle complimented the abilities and assets both parties brought to the relationship. For the 2006 AUVSI competition, the club is constructing a new vehicle design with a direct relationship with the resources of the University, as well as more outside product vendors.

The club has used support from new sponsors to acquire a top-of-the-line PCI-104 computer and parts of a power system that will go on the vehicle. Engineers' Council provided a large contribution early on to support the purchasing of raw materials for the chassis and electronics housings. The club also used money to support fundraisers-such as a Krispy Kreme doughnut sale. The club sold nearly 200 dozen doughnuts in a few hours!

The Underwater Robotics Club is excited to represent NC State Engineering and would like to thank the following for all of their help and support over the past year: Vortex HC, Engineers' Council at NCSU, The ECE Department, Dr. Wesley Snyder, Elaine Hardin, Tara Britt, Bart Greene, Dr. Mo-Yuen Chow, Dr. John Muth, Bojangles, CUI/V-Infinity, Lippert-AT and every student who loves Krispy Kreme.


Sterling Greene
President, Underwater Robotics Club