Strathclyde Marine Robotics Society

Njord Challenge 2024 - Recap part 5/5 Our final tasks at the Njord Challenge involved docking the boat autonomously. As seen in the video attached, the StrathVoyager successfully completed the second sub-task of the day! In this segment, vessels were meant to pass through the starting gate (a red buoy and a green buoy placed side-by-side), enter the dock, stay stationary for 5 seconds, and then reverse, turn and pass through the exit gate. To correctly identify the dock, teams could use AR tags, or attempt the task without them. Our team's strategy was to detect the AR tags with a camera and YOLOv9. Our first attempts showed that it is more difficult than initially expected - for accurate docking, Strathvoyager 2 had to be very close to the tags to capture all of them. However, our second attempt in Task 3.2 proved that the low speed was crucial. We were thrilled to see Strathvoyager 2 successfully perform a full docking sequence! Even though the attempt went past our allocated time, resulting in a point deduction, it was very rewarding to see the autonomous docking of our vessel. In the video, three lights can be spotted on the top of Strathvoyager 2. The red light indicates that the boat has lost control (manually or autonomously), the yellow light indicates that the boat is being controlled manually, and the green light indicates that the boat is being controlled autonomously. Throughout the video, the green light is on with the yellow light flickering as well. This blinking shows that the vessel is within the range of our radio control module if we need to switch to "manual" mode. Again, thanks to our supporters Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab, Strathclyde Alumni Community and University of Strathclyde NAOME. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering #software

Njord Challenge 2024 - Recap part 4/5 The task for the fourth day of the competition was Collision Avoidance. The boats had to first past through a gate and then avoid Njord's R/C boat - the 'Otter' coming towards it from two different directions. First from the side and then diagonally. After avoiding collision, it then had to pass through another gate to complete the task. It was a day of action, thrill and suspense - especially for our team. Seconds before the start of our task, the Wi-Fi router on the boat gave up on us, and the team rushed to fix it. Throughout the attempt, everyone was anxiously waiting to see if the problem could be fixed on time. We didn't end up doing the task but we definitely learnt from the experience and did our best to make up for it for the next day. Stay tuned to read our upcoming post about how the last day of Njord went for us! As always, we are grateful for all the support we've received this year from the Strathclyde Alumni Community, Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab and University of Strathclyde NAOME. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering #software

Njord Challenge 2024 - Recap part 3/5 The 3rd day of the Challenge was a Company Day and we got the chance to meet companies that dealt with the marine industry, software and most importantly, autonomous surface vehicles. The companies in question were ABB, MathWorks, KONGSBERG, Torghatten, DNV, Gard AS, Torvald Klaveness, NORBIT Subsea and Norwegian Maritime Authority. The day started off with all companies giving the teams presentations on what they do. Njord's event involved 'speed dating' these companies, where different groups of each team spoke to each company for 10 minutes. It was a satisfying day, and our team learnt a lot about the companies present. We made a number of new connections that day, and we hope to get a chance to work with them in the future. The attached pictures include members at Kongsberg Discovery telling us about their all-electric USV outside the speed dating event. A picture of two of our team members on a 'date' with ABB is also attached below. As usual, we would like to thank our supporters for this year: Strathclyde Alumni Community, Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab and University of Strathclyde NAOME. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering #software

Njord Challenge 2024 - Recap part 2/5 The second task of the week was Navigation. In theory, it was a slightly harder variation of Task 1 - a set of cardinal buoys that were yellow and black in colour (as shown in the pictures attached) was added to the previous course. The cardinal buoys were used to indicate in which direction the boat should pass around it. Surprisingly, many teams found this task challenging, probably more than initially expected. Our team was eager to place the Strathvoyager 2.0 in the water and fully witness the outcomes of our latest developments. Finally, it was our turn to go. "Autonomy: On!" was announced, and we could only observe how our vessel tackled the task. Strathvoyager 2.0 successfully detected and navigated through the first few sets of red and green pairs and correctly passed the first cardinal mark. However, the second cardinal mark was misclassified due to lighting conditions, which caused some trouble in navigating past it. The most challenging part of the task that day was a sharp U-turn in the course. Multiple red and green buoys were placed in a relatively small area, which ended up confusing several teams' boats, ours included. Because of that, it was even more impressive to see a successful attempt by Navier USN! Bravo! Since the following day was a "Company Day" hosted by Njord, members of our team decided to fully embrace the sunny afternoon, walking around Trondheim's city centre and visiting the beautiful Kristiansten Fortress. Again, we would like to thank our supporters for this year: Strathclyde Alumni Community, Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab and University of Strathclyde NAOME. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering

Njord Challenge 2024 - Recap part 1/5 The first task of this year's Njord Challenge was Manoeuvring! The pathway consisted of gates made by red and green buoys, forming a navigation course that the boats had to follow. This task tests the basics of an Autonomous System such as: - Object Detection and Classification - Strathvoyager 2 uses Yolov9 to identify the buoys accurately; - Object Localisation - once detected, objects must be correctly localised in the local coordinate frame. In Strathvoyager 2, camera-LiDAR sensor fusion is performed for that task; - Path-planning - for each pair of red and green buoys, we create a waypoint in the mid-point, and a path is planned using Dubins path algorithm; - Path-following - lastly, we use PID control to follow the created path. Strathvoyager 2 placed third on that day! Compared to last year, the improvement is immense. Our vessel correctly performed three out of the four abovementioned sub-tasks. However, the curvy path highlighted issues within our path-following algorithm. Our team worked hard to solve this problem, testing the boat in the beautiful Norwegian fjord until sunset and even after the sunset, at home. Making sure our PID parameters were correct, we moved on to preparing Strathvoyager 2 for the next day. Njord also ended the day by hosting a sauna and barbeque party for the competing teams. We took some time off to enjoy the party, after which some members went back to focusing on the next task. Was our preparation enough for the next Navigation task? Stay tuned for more updates! To end this recap, we would like to thank our supporters for this year: Strathclyde Alumni Community, Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab and University of Strathclyde NAOME for all they've done for us to help us get this far. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering

Team StrathVoyager for the 2023-2024 term has made it to the Njord Challenge again this year and will be competing from tomorrow onwards! It has been a year of improvements, and we made some major upgrades to our software and design side. The boat's ability to detect buoys along with its hulls have completely changed, resulting in what we have named the StrathVoyager 2.0. The team representing Strathclyde this year consists of the President - Kaja Gorska, the Team Captain - Panagiotis Louvros, Wang Zhao, Alexander Dixon, Asa Hopkins, Radu Epure, Stefans Grants, Magnus McIntosh, Rhea Pinto and our Alumni member - Nilesh Ohol. With us in the photo, we have Mathijs van Oosten, the head of competition planning at Njord. #marinerobotics #universityofstrathclyde #society #robotics #strathclyde #navalarchitecture #njordchallenge #lidar #programming #engineering #marine #marineengineering