Robotics group offers unique underwater challenge

Artificial intelligence is one of the technologies that could shape our society during the next century as profoundly as the advent of computers during the 20th century. It's exciting to be at a school where AI research is happening all the time.

Underwater robots can fix sea floor oil pipelines, locate and safely detonate underwater landmines, or explore the deep ocean floor. Autonomous exploration of the seafloor would have many important applications underwater, an environment where it is costly and often dangerous for humankind to venture. Surprisingly, the sole club at Tech dealing with underwater robotics was founded just during this school year.

The Marine Robotics Group (MRG) got off the ground this past fall mainly through the efforts of friends Lucas Garza, Rick Uhlman and Daniel Cooksey, all in their third year studying Aerospace Engineering.

They are also working with Jack Griffin, a Computer Science graduate student who serves as the lead AI programmer for the team. John Parish, a third-year Electrical Engineering major who is currently co-oping in Washington D.C., was also one of the founding members of the group.

Each of the team members has taken on different roles in the design and management of the robot. Garza serves as Club Coordinator, Uhlman specializes in controls, and Cooksey in structures.

The club advisor is Dr. Tucker Balch, a College of Computing professor whose research focuses on artificial intelligence.

"I'm very excited to advise the Marine Robotics Group...My hope is that this effort will continue to grow and that Georgia Tech will become one of the few places involved in underwater robotics research," Dr. Balch wrote in an email.

The MRG is working on a robot for the 2005 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego this August. They will be competing against schools such as MIT, Duke, Cornell and international schools such as Ecole De Technologie Superieure.

The competition is a big deal at many of the schools-Duke alone procures about $65,000 a year to build their robot.

The MRG was able to get a sponsorship from the Georgia Tech Student Foundation of several thousand dollars last semester, but the team is still looking for additional funding through corporate sponsorships.

As a new organization, they also want to raise their profile on campus by putting their robot on show for the campus to see.

"We'd like to have the robot displayed publicly...we're looking into getting some time at the CRC pool," said Uhlman.

At the competition, the robot will have to demonstrate its autonomy by completing a rendezvous with a docking station, inspecting a pipeline, finding and marking a break in the pipeline, and homing in on an acoustic beacon to breech at the proper surface zone.

All these tasks must be completed within a 15-minute time period.

Add to these objectives the general difficulties associated with working underwater, and it's apparent that the group has a challenging mission. The robot's electrical systems must be completely waterproof, and unlike on land, its movement must account for three axes.

Here, the team's experience in aerospace engineering may prove to be a big help, since in the air you also have to think about unhindered movement in three dimensions.

"It's still low-speed aerodynamics, just with a different density," Garza said.

The submarine will be self-controlled, so it will have to be fairly large-about four feet long-and controlled by a motherboard called the PC 104, which has 104 pins on which to add components.

It will move underwater with battery-powered thrusters, and depending on funding the team wants to have several thrusters on the robot.

Most of the robot will be built from plastic due to weight and monetary considerations.

The group is still recruiting and needs members to fill several kinds of roles.

They want some non-engineering types to manage publicity, talk to companies about sponsorships and perform administrative tasks. Currently, a management student is handling treasury tasks.

They also need website designers, since the group website is an element of the competition. The more technical people they have on board the better, the team said, but everyone will hopefully be able to get their hands dirty with testing the submarine and using the machines in the College of Computing's BORG robotics lab.

"We're all engineers, so we find the toys fascinating," Uhlman said.

The club is grateful and excited to be able to work in the lab, where they will build and store their submarine.

"We've just finished equipping the BORG lab with a full array of machine tools and electronics shop tools, so I'm hoping they'll have an easy time designing and building their robots," Balch said.

The idea of a marine robot struck my sense of whimsy, so I asked the guys semi-idiotic questions such as "So can you go swimming with it, grab and ride it, you know, like dolphins?" and "Will it be dangerous?"

The group's replies were good-natured, though.

"If we do well it'll be fast.umm, I don't think you'd want to be down in the water with it while it was running by itself," Uhlman said.

So although my questions got shot down, I did get the impression that the robot will be somewhat badass.

"We were thinking of adding a sting ray outer shell to make it intimidating to all the other robots," Garza joked.

Though a close-knit group, the team welcomes new members from many disciplines. They are flexible on time commitment if you are interested in joining.

Perhaps the appeal boils down to what Cooksey pointed out: "It's a chance to see all your engineering work actually built."