We design, build, and test autonomous systems for a marine research vessel.
Our Team
We are final-year project, directed reading, and extracurricular students from a range of disciplines and year levels.
Meet some of our team below.
Our Competition
We contest the international Maritime RobotX competition, against 20+ university teams.
The competition centres on the design and manufacture of autonomous systems for a department-of-defence provided WAM-V marine vessel, and involves a range of static (safety) tests and dynamic (on-water) events.
The 2022 competition was our most successful to-date, with the team scoring 5th overall in the world.
We are well underway improving our designs for this years Maritime RobotX competition.
Autonomous Systems
We currently maintain a range of sophisticated autonomous systems for our WAM-V.
Final-Year/Directed Reading/Extracurricular projects are available across all systems.
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GNC Case
At the heart of our WAM-V electronics is a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) hub, which houses our computational infrastructure and breaks out our power and data wiring.
Within this enclosure, 3 separate computers, communicating through a Robot Operating System, handle sensor ingest, localisation, navigation and path planning, enabling our vessel to localise, autonomously navigate and make decisions.
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Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
We utilise a sophisticated SLAM algorithm on the WAM-V platform to enable autonomous navigation.
By integrating sensor data from cameras and LiDAR, our SLAM system constructs a map of the environment while simultaneously estimating our position within that map. Both the map and estimated position are continuously updates as we traverse the waters.
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Onshore Control System (OCS)
Our Onshore Control System is a powerful human-interface device that remotely governs and monitors the WAM-V from the shore.
Serving as a centralised control hub, the OCS enables operators to command and supervise the boat's operations, including navigation, mission planning, data analysis, and real-time monitoring, ensuring efficient and secure remote control of the WAM-V from port.