Systems Engineering at the US Naval Academy

Visit to Northrop Grumman Oceanic

2011-01-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Every year ES456 Autonomous Vehicles visits Northrop Grumman Oceanic, which sits right at the base of Annapolis side of the Chesapeake Bay. The facility makes a variety of unmanned underwater vehicles including the Advanced Seal Delivery system.

Here Systems Engineering students get a state for how system-level design decisions are made in industry, the hear from experts in many disciplines, and tour the extensive test facilities. In addition to learning about the theory behind unmanned vehicles, one of the goals of ES456 is to give students an appreciation for the state of the unmanned system's industry. Thanks to Northrop Grumman for graciously hosting us every year!

Robo-Sub

2011-01-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

Each summer, USNA sends a team to compete in the AUVSI RoboSub (robotic submarine) competition in San Diego California. The team consists of firsties who do this as their capstone design project, and underclass who do it because it’s cool. The international field of competitors consists of high schoolers, undergrads, and graduate students from 20-30 schools in countries including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, India, and Iceland. The competition consists of static judging, as well as in-water performance versus a variety of underwater objectives such as navigation, picking stuff up, dropping on or shooting at targets, and precision surfacing; all of which must be done completely autonomously (no human involvement).

This year USNA finished 2^nd out of 21 schools, and collected a $5000 cash prize, on the strengths of their navigational skills, ability to dive and drive, and careful preparations. You can find more information about our 2011 campaign at robosub.org and at navyauv.esmartdesign.com , or by contacting CAPT Nicholson.

Capstone Projects: Quad Rotor

2010-12-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

Autonomous Quadrotor Helicopter
by 1/C Fouquette, Griffith, Miller

We were inspired by videos like this (UPenn), to make our own quadrotor.

Here is the version we built for our capstone project. The quadrotor helicopter utilizes differential thrust to hover. For its control, the system utilizes an IMU, altitude sensor, and a combo of range sensors and a CMUcam (for translational motion).

Ground Vehicle Competion

2010-12-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

The mids returned for a second year to the 18th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, help in June in Rochester Michigan.

ENS Mitchell represented the other teammates (Hudson, Albrecht, and Bush).

Here is the fully autonomous vehicle on a practice run, staying in the white painted lanes while avoiding obstacles.

In the end we placed 10th or 52 teams, traveling 208 feet before driving off the course. Go Navy! Next year, Mids Mehalic, Burrow, Parrot, Lowe and Albrecht are looking to return and take one of the top 5 spots.

More info at http://www.igvc.org/

Autonomous Surface Vessle Competition

2010-11-30T11:00:00.001-05:00

Here is System's Engineering's first entry into AUVSI's (a professional society for unmanned systems) second annual autonomous surface ship cometition in Norfolk VA.

Capstone Projects: Disruptive technologies

2010-11-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Commercial Technologies with Disruptive Applications by 1/C Brad Cash (Class of 2010)

The overall purpose of this project is to explore what type of capabilities a domestic terrorist could achieve using commercial technologies that could prove harmful to the U.S. by supporting asymmetric disruption. For this particular project, we explored how to control a cheap off-the-shelf RC vehicle from considerable distances by using the wireless Verizon 3G network. The vehicle is equipped with a small Artigo Pico ITX kit computer on board and connected to the 3G
network via a wireless modem. The user controls the vehicle via a webpage.

King of the Mountain

2010-11-16T11:00:00.001-05:00

One of the first challenges in ES451 Mobile Robot Design is to build a robot that can climb a steep slope. While it might just seem like we're playing with legos, teams must consider the same issues they might consider in any vehicle design: tire material, gearing, location of center of gravity and frame geometry.

To put in perspective just how steep the hills were, driving up a 45 degree incline only gets you a B! Here is an unsuccessful effort:

But with a little more work, the winning teams made it up a 55 degree incline!

Note: The robot's are not able to sense if they are sitting straight on the hill, so "nudges" are allowed, as long as they don't help you up the hill. One of the groups is working on a slef steering version as part of their midterm project.

Capstone Project: Convoy

2010-11-09T11:00:00.001-05:00

People have long been interested in the idea of an automated convoy. Iraqi convoy operations are known to be dangerous; but even in the United States the idea of automating trucking is appealing.

In a convoy, the leader can be a manned or autonomous vehicle. The remaining vehicles are autonomous. Their job is to simply follow the vehicle in front of them.

One risk is that if the leader suddenly accelerates or brakes, there is a danger the followers will not be able to maintain their relative position. This disturbance or oscillation propagates down the "string" of vehicles, giving rise to the term "string stability".

Prof. Robertson, Feemster and ENS Henderson investigate how this problem can be alleviated using something called command shaping -- instead of flooring the accelerator or brake the leader smooths his transitions to ameliorate this issue. Here it is in practice (note the robots are covered with cardboard "hats" and reflective tags that enable our motion capture system to record the positions of the vehicles in real time).

Save the Bay!

2010-11-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) uses a REMUS autonomous underwater vehicle as a sensor platform for research on water quality in local waters.

Originally developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and marketed by Hydroid Inc. of Pocasset Massachusetts, USNA’s vehicles were originally purchased for mine warfare and operated by Naval Special Clearance Team ONE in such operations as clearing of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr of mines during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

This REMUS enables researchers and students to map suitable habitats for oyster restoration, crab distribution and submerged aquatic vegetation. Dissolved oxygen is one of the most important water quality parameters because it is the dominant proxy for extreme eutrofication; excess nutrient loading of coastal waters. The Severn River has been identified by the State of Maryland as an impaired waterway for multiple water quality parameters. Round Bay has consistently developed a summer-long anoxic zone (dissolved oxygen concentration less than 0.2 mg/l) for the last four years.

The Photo is from the 25 August 2010 Chesapeake Bay conference, held at USNA. In the photo is a REMUS with an oxygen sensor installed. From left to right: me, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Secretary of the Navy Ray Maybus, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Superintendent VADM Miller (in the back), Andrew Muller (USNA Oceanography department).

Robo-Roaches

2010-10-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

Students in Mobile Robot Design (Es451) had to build small mobile robots, that behave like roaches, using their Lego Mindstorm Kits. The robots were supposed to wander around the room randomly looking for "food" (Small Plastic Ball with Infrared LEDs inside). If the find food they should stop and "eat". Just like real roaches they should run away if a bright light shines on them.

Finally, they need to be able to avoid obstacles. That can be pretty tricky when the room is filled with people, chairs, and other robots. Remember, the robots can't "see" and they don't have map of the room. They can only sense obstacles a few inches in front of them. One good way to do that is to use a bump sensor. Building a nice bump sensor can be quite a mechanical design challenge. The robots are programmed in C using something called a behavior based architecture -- the same framework used in the Roomba vacum cleaner.

I leave you with a video taken by a camera strapped to the top of one of the robots. From the robot's prespective turns out the world is an ugly place filled with black shoes, tan uniformed legs and rolling chairs.

(After about 1 minute in there is some cool picture in picture editing thanks to Midn Ihlan!)

Kinetic Display?

2010-10-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

The challenge was simple, students in Es201, a new first course in systems engineering, were given a bag of motors, micro controllers, and small plastic toys and told to do something "interesting and aesthetically pleasing".

During the semester, students with no prior programming or electronics experience learned how to program micro computers to move a motor, light an LED, read a sensor, etc. It was amazing to see the things they came up with.

You just never know what you will get. Here is "Flame Bot" which uses a small torch to melt little plastic army guys (?)

The all time crowd pleaser? A tribute to the King of Pop.

Terrain Challenge

2010-10-06T15:09:00.004-04:00

A rite of passage in Es451 Mobile robot design is the terrain challenge.

The difficulty of designing vehicles to drive over unforgiving terrain is that there are many types of terrain to consider: steep slopes, bumpy roads, gaps or chasms, sticky surfaces, etc

Worse yet, improving a vehicle's performance in one area, can often hurt is performance in another. For example, shifting the center of gravity forward can help you on the uphill but hurt your chances of making it back down unscathed.

Students in ES451 Mobile Robot Design, as given a Lego Mindstorms kit and asked to build vehicle that can traverse the entire course: (1) a 90 degree turn on super sticky mouse pads; (2) up the bolt studded hill; (3) across the 4" chasm; (5) down the Nastiest Descent You Have Ever Seen; (6) and out the legume pit. On average only 3 of 10 teams can complete the entire challenge.

Here is one of the year's teams. They used a total of 12 wheels (and treads) to make an "active undercarriage" that prevents the vehicle from getting high centered on obstacles, a extra long body to cross the chasm and outriggers to improve stability on the downhill. (It still needs some help on the down hill! )

Sail Bot Sweep

2010-03-05T11:00:00.001-05:00

Congratulations are in order. The Sailbot team did it again. The USNA team took 1st AND 2nd place in the North American Sailbot competition, which involved designing and building a fully autonomous sailboat. The Team consisted of Systems Engineers (advised by Prof. Bishop) and Naval Architects (advised by Prof. Miller)

For more information visit this link.
The Mids went on to represent USA at the European competition in Portugal where they fought a variety of technical and logistical challenges but still managed to enter a solid middle of the pack performance.

Swarms, and Flocks and Formations...Oh My!

2010-03-01T11:00:00.002-05:00

Both science and science fiction have dreamed up the concept of robot swarms (aka flocks) -- massive groups of robots that perform complex cooperative tasks like ants or bees. Scary things, like this scene out of the Amazon:

Prof. Esposito is working on getting robots to do the same things. In this video the robots are supposed to gather round the object in preparation to push it. The robots have three simultaneous objectives (1) force the distance between the box and themselves to zero; (2) do not collide with other robots; (3) contact the box at the location that maximized their moment arm (their ability to exert torques on the object). A navigation function is created that incorporates all of these objectives in a provably correct fashion. This results in paths where the robots bow away from each other and try to contact the box on the far facets of at the corners of the box.

In this video, the robots cooperate to push the box across the room. They use a remarkably simple control law that requires no explicit communication between the robots.

We use the Matlab Tolbox for the iRobot Create (MTIC) to control the robots from a base station, and the Vicon Motion Capture system as an indoor GPS.

Systems Engineer Participates in SAE Formula 1 Car Design

2010-02-16T11:00:00.007-05:00

May engineering schools participate in the Society of Automotive Engineer's annual student automotive design competition and race. This is typically the domain of Mechanical Engineering departments.

But what many people don't realize is that these days, your average car is stocked with more microcomputers that your average Best Buy. Today's cars use hundreds of feedback control systems, the heart of the systems engineering cirriculum. Everything from cruise control, to anti-lock breaks, an electronic stability control is regulated automatically using sophisticated sensors, and microchips.

Systems Engineer Midn Castenda's original Design Project was to design and implement an automatic, pneumatic shifter into the USNA Formula 1 car. The concept was to have a faster better shifter for the car that was always optimized to the engine and to relieve the driver from another chore that could be automated, and thereby let the driver concentrate on driving. The design worked well on up shifts, with Castenda getting inside the engine’s (Honda 600cc motorcycle engine) ECU and programming it to interrupt fuel for a few microseconds to relieve stress on the gear train to enable smooth up shifts.

For more on how instrumented car have become see for example NYT: 2007 Mercedes-Benz: Leave the Driving to the Microchips ...OK the article starts negatively, but just keep reading onto page 2

Autonomous Resupply Vehicle

2010-02-09T11:00:00.002-05:00

Mids Carlton, Jewett and Scarborough (Advised by Prof. Feemster)

Systems Ball 2009

2010-02-02T11:00:00.002-05:00

Before there was Battle-Bots, there was System's Ball, this year marked the 19th annual System's Ball robotic combat event.

And it was particularly special. For one of its founders, now retired Prof. Knowles, it was his last Systems Ball (at least in any official capacity). After a particularly eventful round of combat he gave his a humorous last lecture on the engineering principles behind some long secret weapons technology. Farewell Knowles!

Be sure to check out the 2010 Event, which takes place on the last day of class, in Rickover 103.

And the winner is...the T-shirt Canon!

2010-01-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

The 2009 Marsh Award for the Best Capstone Design Project went to Mids Argonne, Sipel, Combs and McAdams and for the T-Shirt Cannon (advised by Prof. Bishop). It is a heavy duty remotely operated vehicle which uses compressed air to launch T-Shirts hundreds of feet. The idea was to make something that could be used at football games to get the crowd excited about football and engineering. The construction on this one is top notch.

The World's Smallest Soccer Match

2010-01-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, USNA participated in the Robot Cup Nanogram Soccer competition. A soccer match in which the robotic players are so small the entire match has to be see througha microscope. USNA Placed Second and was featured in Popular Science online.

Mids from Electrical Engineering (advised by Prof. Firebaugh) and Systems Engineering (advised by Prof. Peipmeier) collaborated on the design and control of these scrtach-drive style robots.

"That there is one souped-up John Boat!"

2010-01-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

As part of their Swarm Manipulation Project, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Prof. Feemster and Esposito are exploring technologies that could lead to the development of teams of autonomous tuboats. Mids Eric Regneier (USNA 2008), and Erik Smith (USNA 2007) helped outfit this standard 10 ft JohnBoat with a suite of navigation equipment. Here we are testing on College Creek.

ES451 Midterm Projects

2010-01-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

For the Mobile Robot Design course, midshipman are allowed to define their own challenge and invent a project description. Here is a funny one from the archives... (Thanks Midn Dobichesky, USNA 2008)

Intro to Robotics Projects - Part 1

2009-12-10T10:27:00.001-05:00

At the end of ES450 Intro to Robotics, students are tasked with coming up with a task to automate that integrates computer vision and a robot manipulator.

Here the camera sees and object and determined its color, then the robot used the computer keyboard to send a text message, with the object's color, to a mobile phone using Matlab (Ruttum & Baker)

Here the Scorbot plays TicTacToe Against a human. It uses the camera to detect the state of the board, computes the best move, and moves the blocks (it is hard to write with a pen using the robot). It is always able to at least draw against a human player. (Valdez)

A GUI to control the scorbot. Robot scolds you if you click outside workspace. (Hatch & Landholt)

Goin' Ballistic

2009-12-09T11:00:00.003-05:00

November marked another semester's ES300 ballistics lab, but this semester there was a twist. Instead of the typical lecture and demo period in the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range, ES300 students got to fire a potato gun. For those not familiar, a potato gun is made from readily available PVC pipe, and is fired using any number of household aerosols, including hairspray and deodorant to propel the common Idaho spud to distances exceeding 200 yards. Gun construction is very simple and involves a hacksaw and PVC cement. The real trick is getting the correct fuel-air mixture, and igniting it with sufficient spark to get good combustion. This year's lab succeeded on all counts, launching potatoes from 1st class parking, all the way across Hospital Point into the Severn.
After the potato gun lab, students were brought down to the range and given a demo on interior, exterior and terminal ballistics. The indoor range cannot handle the energy from a rifle round, so only handguns were tested, including .22, 9mm, .40 and .45 pistols. Impact media included ballistics gel (just like in Mythbusters), Kevlar armor, and some proprietary molded armor from a company called MACRO Industries. The intent was to show how combat ammunition performs on various targets and in different scenarios. Students gained an appreciation for the marksmanship skills necessary to effectively dissuade the enemy from pursuing a negative course of action.

3rd Annual Worm Chariot Race

2009-12-01T13:01:00.000-05:00

For the third consecutive year, students in Es451 make robotic worms using the Bioloid Robotics Kit. Engineering issues considered include gait design, stability, traction, sensing and responding to obstacles. The Chariots contain the batteries and small computers which store the programs.

The first test is the 10 foot dash. It is graded based on how straight the robot moves (<6" deviation from straight line over a 10 ft course) .

Turning is one of biggest challenges. I have to say this is the ugliest robot snake turn I have seen but it is remarkably close to 90 degrees (the goal). And reliable too! The turn is triggered by the presence of an obstacle as measures by an IR range sensor.

And they are off! (they really shouldn't be touching the robots once the race starts but it didn't effect the outcome)

Congratulations:

Winners (1st period): Midn 1/C Hatch, Meyer, Myers

Winners (3rd period): Midn 1/C Felps, Honan, Beates

Essay Contest Winner!

2009-11-22T10:01:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to ENS Daniel Umpa (USNA, Systems, '09)!

He was announced as the winner of the "Commander William Earl Fannin, Class of 1945, Capstone Essay Contest". His essay, "The Pilotless Squadron" which discusses the obstacles for adoption of unmanned systems (AUVs in particular) in the US military, appeared in the September issue of the Proceedings of the US Naval Institute.

Note: You have to be a Proceedings Subscriber to see the full article (sorry!)

http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/archive/month.asp?ID=277

Projects Galore!

2009-11-16T11:00:00.002-05:00

The Robo-Goat (He's gnarly and he's old and he's never been to school)

2009-11-10T11:00:00.001-05:00

In Jan 2009, a team of 6 midshipman set out to design and build Robo-Goat, USNA's first entry into the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, in Rochester Michigan. Mids Lacy, and Calvanico traveled to compete, along with then 2/C Bush and Advisers Profs. Joel Esposito and Brad Bishop.

The team won the Rookie of the Year Award! Placing solidly in the middle of the pack out of the 30 teams that qualified. About 20 teams did not pass the qualifying round.

As part of ES402 Systems Engineering Design, the mids undertook a systematic component selection process. The vehicles uses a camera to detect lane markings in the grass and a scanning laser range finder (aka LADAR) to avoid obstacles. You can see the lane following in action in this video:

Here the obstacle avoidance algorithm is tested:

The final event (and our best) was the GPS challenge, in which the vehicle had to hit as many way points as possible within 7 minutes.

We've already statred improving the old goat. We can't wait for the 2010 competition!

AUV 2009

2009-11-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

The Systems Engineering Department sent three May graduates and one second-class midshipman to represent USNA at the 12th Annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) competition this August.

During the 2008-2009 academic year a team of eight midshipmen designed and built an AUV as their capstone design project. After two semesters of design, fabrication, and programming; four of the team members flew out to the SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific's TRANSDEC Facility in San Diego for the week long competition. Contending with numerous technical issues, the team worked as many as 18 hours per day troubleshooting electrical problems, testing controllers and applying theory learned as Systems Engineers. Despite the long hours, the team remained optimistic, motivated, and focused.

“I was entirely amazed as to how many people were cheering for our team. Even though teams from San Diego were entered into the competition, USNA was viewed as more of the hometown team. It was very rewarding to hear that high ranking officials and officers held our team in high regard. Looking at other teams, I realized how rare an opportunity USNA’s Systems Department presented me with by entrusting me to work with high value sensors and equipment. This was definitely a unique project and a unique experience,” said team member ENS Dan Umpa.

The team achieved 4th place out of 30 teams in the static competition. (Oh yeah

..there is also the lasting benefit of the problem solving and time management skills learned th

roughout the ten months of development will serve the team members well as they enter serve in the world’s most technically advanced Navy)

BE$T JOB IN AMERICA? Systems Engingeering!

2009-10-27T11:00:00.000-04:00

Every year Money Maganize names the 50 best jobs in America based on a variety of factors such as pay, lifestyle and demand. Guesss what this years' #1 job was?

Yep. It was Systems Engineering.

Check out the Article. They cite high demand, high pay, and the opportunity to manage creative solutions to high level problems.

Systems Engineer Stats
Median salary
(experienced) $87,100
Top pay $130,000
10-year job growth (2006-2016) 45%
Total jobs (current) 88,000
Online want ad growth (April 2009-August 2009) 22%
Personal satisfaction A
Job security B
Future growth B
Benefit to society C
Low stress C

Towers of Hanoi

2009-10-21T11:04:00.002-04:00

Legend has it that somewhere in Hanoi, there is a temple in which a group of Buddhist monks have 64 rings on a set of pegs. They need to move the rings from one peg to another, but you can only move one ring at time and are not allowed to place a larger on on top of a smaller one. When they complete the task...the world will end!

Sounds boring though huh? That is where the robots come in! Robots are suited to dirty dull and dangerous tasks that humans would rather not do. Here is our Intro to Robotics lab. (oh, by the way, if you do the math, turns out if they move one ring per second, the world won't actually end for another few billion years so don't worry)

ps - What is up with the arcing?

Robot Road Report

2009-10-14T08:22:00.001-04:00

( by Prof. Esposito)
I am currently at the Intelligent Robots ad Systems Conference in St. Louis. Here are some observations:

Everybody seems to be trying to buy a Vicon, motion tracking system. In case you don't know, this is a system that uses high speed IR cameras to track moving objects to within 1 mm accuracy and can compute position and orientation up to 1000 times/sec. Its like a really fast, really accurate indoor GPS systems. It is also used alot in the biomedical, video game and movie industries. Within 3 hours of arriving here at IROS, I met 3 colleagues from other institutions who were in the process of planing orders. Seems like we're practically trend setters. Prof. Bishop and I got the idea to buy one, way back in early 2008.

2. Hokuyo came out with a new scanning laser range finder that retains the slim form factor of the URG (about 2" X 2" X 2"). However this one gets both power and data through the USB connection, eliminating the need for a separate power supply. Oh yeah, it is half the price too! (1200 USD vs 2500)

3. I got the chance to meet Nao, the new small humanoid robot from Alderbaran Robotics. It is quite cool, and at 10,000 USD / unit it is no toy. So far their primary market is the RoboCup Universities that are participating in the humanoid league.

http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/eng/Nao.php

Micro Bots

2009-09-30T11:57:00.001-04:00

Check out these micro robots that Midn Eastman and Watson worked on with Prof. Piepmeier and Firebaugh (EE). The ultimate goal of the project is to have the robots play soccer in the Robocup Nanogram League. Here is a video of the through a microscope.

They are approximately 60 X 120 microns in size. The desig is refered to as a scratchdrive abd was build here at USNA. By varying the voltage on the playing surface the robots move along like an inchworm.

Welcome back LT Searock!

2009-08-30T13:05:00.000-04:00

LT Jeremy Searock is a 2003 graduate of our very own Systems Engineering department. As a first class midshipman, LT Searock worked along with Professor Brad Bishop and John Vranish, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, on a next generation planetary rover. The project was designed to improve the obstacle clearance capabilities of a rover comparable to the NASA Sojourner, which landed on Mars in July of 1997. The project used a unique mobility concept entitled the “mountain climbing team method.” This method enabled a similar rover of comparable size to the Sojourner to traverse an obstacle 75% taller, while also increasing its ground speed. LT Searock’s first class design project won the 2003 David R. Marsh Design Project Award.

Upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy, LT Searock entered the Robotics Masters program at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. LT Searock worked along with Manuela Veloso and Brett Browning in developing the capabilities of a Segway Robot Mobility Platform to play a modified game of soccer along with humans. The project was funded under DARPA’s mobile autonomous robot software program (MARS). LT Searock designed and built two 250+lb robots capable of playing soccer along with humans riding the Segway Human Transport. ("Turning Segways into Soccer Robots". In Proceedings of IROS 2004). His master’s thesis involved creating a method to prevent robots from entering unrecoverable states and thus improving their overall robustness. ( "Learning to prevent failure states for a dynamically balancing robot", Proceedings of AAAI 2005.)

Upon completion of the naval nuclear power training pipeline, LT Searock reported to USS Nevada SSBN-733 in Bangor, WA in October 2006. He served as the Reactor Controls Assistant, Main Propulsion Assistant, Quality Assurance Officer, and Assistant Engineer. He completed several patrols and an Engineered Refueling Overhaul.

In March of 2009, LT Searock reported to USNA once more to become one of our military instructors. He is located in Maury 244.

System Ball: Remember when?

2009-04-18T01:04:00.001-04:00

With System Ball less than a week away I thought it would be fun to look back. Here is a 1996 article from the capital on this. (Sorry for the poor reproduction quality but hey, it was 1996!)

_____________________
This year's systems ball competition will take place Wednesday April 22nd, at 1530 in Rickover 102. Professor Knowles will give his farewell lecture, then the four robots will abttle until the end. Immediately following will be the 1/C BBQ.

Hope to see everyone there!

System Ball April 22nd, at 1530

2009-04-16T13:00:00.003-04:00

This year's Systems Ball competition (a battle bots type event) will take place Wednesday April 22nd, at 1530 in Rickover 102. Professor Knowles will give his farewell lecture, then the four robots will abttle until the end. Immediately following will be the 1/C BBQ.

Everyone is invited. Hope to see everyone there!

Sail Bot

2009-02-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

Imagine trying to teach a robot to sail. That is exactly what this group of students had to do when they entered the first international autonomous sailboat competition, hosted here on the Chesapeake Bay. They retro-fitted a standard, small, sailboat with digital sensors such as GPS, a compass and wind speed indicators. All that information was fed into an on-board computer which controlled various motors to adjust the rudder and sails.

Our team, which consisted of systems majors and naval architects, placed second in this international competition!

Roombas

2009-02-17T11:07:00.002-05:00

Most of us have seen the iRobot Roomba vacum cleaner robot. Professor Esposito wrote a Matlab Toolbox for the Roomba that allows you to control a Roomba from your PC.

The ES451 Mobile Robotics class used this along with a pretty sophisticated scanning laser rangefinders to program the robots to track along within 2 feet of the wall (the tape lines on the ground are just for reference the robot cannot see them) and when it finds an open door it is able to drive through it.

Mids Warren Leonne

These are the same sensors that have been used succesffully in the DARPA Urban Challenge

Alumni

2009-02-10T11:00:00.002-05:00

Even wonder what some of our Alumni do when they enter the civilian engineering world?

Dear Dr. Knowles,

My name is Matt Wallace. I am a 1984 USNA grad, and you were my advisor and professor a long long (long) time ago.

I was a systems major, and was at the time interested in robotics. Of course, I had little opportunity to exercise that interest while driving fast attack subs around various oceans - though that was mighty cool too. However, when I left the Navy, you were kind enough to write me a recommendation for graduate school in 1990 - despite the fact that I was far from your best student. I ended up at Caltech for a masters program, which I somehow survived (way harder than plebe summer), and was then hired at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is run by Caltech.

I believe it's been 20 years since you have heard from me. And no, I don't need a recommendation for a PhD program. In fact, I really only wanted to send this to let you know that your support made a difference for me. I have been working in planetary robotics now for most of those 20 years.

Over the last 15 years or so, I've been focused on the Mars Program run here at JPL. I played a part in the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission (I lead the power system development on the small Sojourner rover among other things). I was also the assembly test and launch operations (ATLO) manager for the 2004 Spirit and Opportunity rovers, as well as the Opportunity mission manager for the Mars surface phase. And I am now the spacecraft manager for the 2009
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. MSL is a beast - 4000 kg all together with a 900 kg car-sized Rover stuffed with 10 different science payloads.

As you might expect, there is not a lot of exotic cutting-edge technology on these vehicles since we focus on high-reliability, mature approaches were possible. You're students today would probably scoff at our Power PC computers and 1553 bus. But the systems engineering and integrated design requirements push the boundaries of the industry. And of course, the application-level is fairly unique (not a lot of folks trying to land on Mars).

I still draw on the advice you gave me 25 years ago - I learned a lot about how to solve problems from you I believe. And I would not have had this career opportunity at JPL without the sequence set in motion by your recommendation.

Matt Wallace, Systems Engineering, Class of 1984, now at JPL

Trackin'

2009-02-01T22:39:00.001-05:00

Tracking moving objects is an important objective for many autonomous systems. Computer vision is one way to do that.

Anthony Guinipero
Using cues about color and shape helps you find the object in the image. But when the object moves fast or there is shadows or glare the results can be disapointing. Enter the Kalman Filter...

Lisa Knauft

It helps blend noisy measurements with a predicative model of motion resulting in the "smooth like butter" trackers seen in these videos.

Stephen Allen

Attack of the bioloids!

2009-01-26T22:50:00.000-05:00

Last year we started experimenting with he Bioloids Kit. Its a very powerful set of motors and a small computer that enables us to do some pretty neat things in ES451Mobile Robotics.

We had a good time with the 2nd annual "Worm Chariot Races"

Simple walking behavior are possible.

You can program the to react to their surroundings too.

Let's not forget about the Dancin Queens

And the dirtiest dancer of them all?

Seriously?

Tic Tac Toe

2009-01-21T10:30:00.000-05:00

Tic Tac Toe is a pretty simple game to learn compared to chess or even checkers. But programming a robot to play is a lot more difficult than you might think. For starters there are 9! possible board configurations. Then there is the problem of sensing the board and moving the pieces. A group of students tackled this in Intro to Robotics:

A REALLY tiny project

2009-01-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

1/C Eric Eastman (ESE) and 1/C Bryan Watson (ESE) attended the RoboCup US Open 2008 at Carnegie Mellon University on May 24-25 to participate in the Nanogram League demonstration. The Nanogram League is one of the newer leagues constraining the robotic devices to fit within a 300micrometer × 300micrometer footprint. The action takes place under the lens of a microscope with a 2.5 mm playing field and 50micrometer diameter balls. USNA also participated in the first Nanogram League Competition in 2007 in Atlanta, GA. The team plans to compete in 2009 in Vienna, Austria.

A Firm Grip

2009-01-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

This year, for the first time we did open ended final projects in ES450 Intro to Robotics. There were lots of really creative entries, but this was one of the most original. The robot handshake:

Mids Warren and Smith

The robot uses a camera system to identify skin tones in the image. It computes the center and orientation of that group of pixels in space to try to estimate where it should move to meet your hand. The only problem? The grip is just a little too firm.

Photomosaics

2008-12-30T15:23:00.000-05:00

The ES453 Introduction to Computer Vision class created their own photomosaics by replacing small segments of an image with a smaller image whose color most closely matched the original patch of the image. Large photo databases were created in MATLAB with Google Image searches. These pictures were used to create the small points of color.

Don't spill that drink!

2008-12-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

ES405 is a course about sensors and motors. In a lot of ways, the course helps prepare you for your capstone project. This year's course project was to build a self leveling platform. They used a cheap accelerometer as a tilt sensor. The output of the sensor is fed to a small computer which turns a motor in order to keep the platform straight.

Shmooooove!

What about the 2/c Courses?

2008-12-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

One of the things I always hear from plebes at recruiting events:

Question: You show us all these great 1/C projects, but what goes on in the 2C year?
Answer: We give you all the tools you will need to do those great 1C projects.

In Control Systems Laboratory (ES308), we teach you how to use little computers to control your projects. These micro-computers don't have a keyboard or a mouse, and they are small enough to fit on most projects. They can be used to talk with motors and sensors. For example, check out the cart in this video. Students had to program the cart to always move at the same velocity -- like your car's cruise control.

(Work by 2/C Selby and Haley)

The computer had to read the velocity sensors on each wheel and decide what voltage to send to the motor to keep it going straight at the right speed. Seems pretty easy on flat ground, but it was required to maintain a constant speed, no matter what the terrain (carpet, smooth floor, uphill, down hill, towing a trailer, etc) . That is where the skills of the 2/C Systems Engineer are put to the test.

(Work by 2/C Lovett)

Since we didn't have a radar gun, one of the ways we measured velocity was to time how long it took to travel between two tape marks on the ground. You can see these guys were pretty pround that they got their vehicle to stop on a dime. Needless to say, they got an A.

Autonomous Vehicles

2008-11-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

So you probably know by now that by 2025, congress has mandated that 1/3 of all combat vehicles will be unmanned. You have probably heard a lot in the news about the DARPA Grand Challenge, Urban Challenge, the Predator, etc. But how many schools have an undergraduate course in Autonomous Vehicles where you can actually get your hands on experience in that area? In ES456, students learn about navigation sensor technologies such as gyros, accelerometers, GPS, laser range finders. We try to use all of that to as part of a control system that enables the vehicles to navigate effectively.

The final project last year was to make this hovercraft drive autonomously in a straight line. It's really hard to do -- even by remote control. It kind of feels like riding a bike on a sheet of ice. Unlike wheeled or tracked vehicles, there isn't of lot of friction and friction is your Friend when your trying to drive in a straight line. The hovercraft wants to slip sideways, and if you build up too much momentum, you can't count on friction to slow you down.

The vehicle uses gyros and a digital magnetic compass to try to detect when it gets off course. A small microcomputer reads the sensors and decides how to adjust the rudder and thrust to correct course. Unfortunately they didn't have a range sensor, so there is no obstacle avoidance. I guess that will have to wait until next year.

This Guy Can Teach!

2008-11-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

A faculty committee selected Prof. Bishop as the recipient of the 2008 Civilian Faculty Teaching Award!

He was selected from an extremely competitive yard-wide field. The committee praised him for his efforts in creating the Systems Engineering Honors Major, and for
starting two of our most popular courses:
Mobile Robot Design (ES451)
and Emerging Technologies (ES502).

The Honors Major lets our top students challenge and distinguish themselves in special courses. The students engage in a year long research project with a faculty mentor. We're the only Group I major to have one.

Mobile robots is a true design experience where students build 8 different robots through the semester to compete in a variety of challenges. Emerging Technologies is a unique course that tries to give students a framework to think critically about the scientific, economic and sociental implications about new technologies such as nanoscience, cybernetics, etc.

Reach Out and Touch Something

2008-10-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

One of the ways humans learn about their world is through touch. They can determine an object's temperature, shape, roughness, etc. Nick Dadds focused his Honors project on trying to give robots the same capabilities.

The three selected object properties to be determined are material type, surface roughness and surface temperature. The data is collected using a sensor suite that is positioned using a robotic manipulator. This project spanned over two semesters in which the first semester was used to research state of the art sensor technology, specify desired object properties, acquire necessary parts and begin development of the sensors. The second semester was used to continue development of the sensors while also designing a sensor suite.

On great thing about the project was that it pulled together a lot of the technologies covered in his courses. Material type is based on the dielectric constant of the object and is determined through the use of a capacitance sensor (sounds like EE301). Surface roughness is determined through signal analysis obtained from a phonograph cartridge and stylus. Surface temperature is based on the heat energy emitted from the object which is determined through the use of an infrared temperature sensor (1/C do that in ES405). The target objects are located in the workspace using a Fixed Camera Tracking system developed in Advanced Robotics (ES452)... who says you never use all the things you learn in your courses?

Rollin' Sentry - Mids. Hixson, Savoie, Florea and Ramos

2008-10-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

These midshipman designed a novel locomotion scheme to make a robot sentry vehicle. They designed an advanced feedback control system that shifts the robot's center of gravity to cause it to roll forward, stop and change direction on command. They were the winners of the Marsh Award - the departmental prize for the best 1/C design project.

It's never too early to start dreaming up your 1/c Design Project....

Painting with Pixels: A Computer Vision Art Show

2008-10-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

The ES453 Introduction to Computer Vision class created art pieces for their 6-week projects. Students were challenged to manipulate or create an image using MATLAB. Some samples from 1/C Kayla Johnson & 1/C James Santelli

Their work can be viewed in the Nimitz Library Coffee Bar along with a collection of books on image processing and art!

Mars is easy, Maury 201 is tough… - by Prof. Bishop

2008-10-15T10:30:00.000-04:00

Modern mobile robots are required to traverse increasingly challenging terrain, from the surface of an alien planet to the depths of a collapsed building. Building robots to move through these extreme environments requires a new way of thinking about mobility.

Students in ES451, Mobile Robot Design, face a rite of passage each Fall as Maury 201 is transformed into one of the most difficult navigation challenges imaginable. Robots are subjected to a tortuous obstacle course comprising bolt-studded hills, steep inclines, deep, obstacle-strewn sand, and the dreaded gap (into which at least one hapless robot tumbles every class period).

Students whose robot can make it unaided through the entire course receive the ultimate accolade from the instructors: a perfect score on the challenge and excusal from writing a lab report.

The task is not for the faint of heart, and more than one robot has met its untimely demise at the bottom of heartbreak hill or dug its own sandy grave in the pit of despair.

But for those students with determination, engineering savvy, and some serious hardware design chops, the terrain challenge offers an unparalleled sense of accomplishment and a chance at immortality, enshrined alongside those happy few whose robots have faced down this ultimate test of machine vs. terrain.

Check em out!

Courtney & Doliente

Vegel, Healey

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition - perspective of Ens Enloe

2008-10-03T16:20:00.001-04:00

As you probably have heard the USNA team took 5th place of 25 teams in this August's conpetition. The competition is stiff, including teams from engineering powerhouses like MIT, Maryland. Here is the prespective of Ens Mike Enloe Class of 2008:

Going to San Diego is always a good time. Getting paid to go to San Diego is even better. Finishing in the top 5 in a technical competition, well, that's downright sweet. Once we got to the competition site with a vehicle that
had sustained some significant damage in transport, we realized that everyone else was in the same boat as us. Walking around the site was a great time - talking with other engineers, looking at designs, figuring
out how other people tackled the same problems. Everyone was very friendly - when our vehicle flooded (AAAAAHH!), UC-Boulder lent us a heat gun to dry out the electronics. One of the teams helped us troubleshoot our sonar.

In the end though, it's all about the competition. With San Diego being a Navy town and the facility being a Navy
facility, a lot of people were rooting for us. Most other teams had post-grads working on their respective vehicles - we had two undergrads, a 2/C, TSD's Joe Bradshaw, and CAPT Nicholson. 5th place isn't bad. But the best part was watching my senior design project - a system of sensors, computers, thrusters and who knows what else - work as best
as it could. There's nothing quite like the feeling when your vehicle performs as it's supposed to. What was the
second-best part, you ask? Getting one of those huge checks. Where would you endorse it, I wonder?

Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicles

2008-06-27T10:00:00.003-04:00

Did you know that congress passed a bill that by 2025, 1/3 of all combat vehicles will be unmanned? Autonomous systems are the future of the Navy. Systems Engineering is the ideal major to learn about Autonomous Systems. In fact we have two entire classes dedicated to the topic: Mobile Robot Design and Autonomous Vehicles. We bring together our knowledge of sensors, mechanical design and robotics to build some really cool projects!

Cool First Class Design Projects

2008-06-27T09:58:00.005-04:00

Every year we ask out Firsties what they thought the best part of our major was. Far and away, the number one response was their 1/c Design Project experience. Students get to dream up any crazy project idea and spend a year designing and bulding it.

Here is one of last year's projects. Everyone knows that one of the biggest casualty sources in Iraq is IEDs, so these Mids decided to study the problem further.

Welcome to our blog!

2008-06-26T22:04:00.004-04:00

The purpose of this blog is to allow you to make an informed choice about your major. We know you have a lot of options, and that you hear a lot of different things back in the hall.