Imagine a small boat navigating a course on its own, avoiding obstacles, completing tasks and making real-time decisions without human control. Creating one is the challenge behind the , an international competition pushing students to design and build an autonomous boat capable of performing complex missions on the water.
Throughout the spring, mechanical engineering students at the University of 海角社区 laid the groundwork for a multi-year effort to create a future entry for the competition. They designed the key initial components for a self-navigating surface vessel, including propulsion, hull design and onboard systems.
In recent years, boat and shipbuilders nationwide have been developing autonomous and semi-autonomous systems to integrate in their fleets. By participating in challenges like RoboBoat, U海角社区 students are preparing careers in this evolving industry that is expected to add thousands of jobs, .
鈥淭his capstone project did an excellent job at connecting in-class lessons to real-world applications,鈥 said Clark Condon, who served as a manufacturing lead and team representative. 鈥淲e practiced real methods of manufacturing, assembly, team management and testing. Issues arose, and as a team, we had to come up with a solution together. It was a great experience to tie together all aspects of an engineering project.鈥
The team split into groups that were tasked with designing each key component. They approached the project as an open-ended engineering problem, requiring them to balance performance, efficiency and integration with the work of other teams.
The group who worked on propulsion focused on developing a system capable of powering and maneuvering a competition-ready vessel while accounting for the added weight of batteries and autonomous technology. Students on the hull team worked in parallel, focusing on designing and manufacturing the physical structure of the vessel to support those systems.
鈥淥ur assigned task was to produce a hull design that could have the navigation and propulsion equipment seamlessly integrated when it comes time to compete in the RoboBoat competition,鈥 said Joseph Genco, who led manufacturing efforts.
Collaboration across groups played a key role throughout the process. Students coordinated with peers working on hull and autonomy systems to ensure compatibility, even though each group focused on a different aspect of the vessel.
鈥淟earning how to work in tandem with others was an extremely important thing for me to learn, especially teamwork in slightly larger groups,鈥 Simmons said. 鈥淕oing forward, it’s going to be amazing to have this basis of teamwork and expressive skills to lean on when faced with the larger real-world problems I’ll see in the workforce.鈥
The project also introduced challenges that extended beyond design work, particularly during testing and manufacturing phases. Students encountered real-world issues that required quick adjustments and problem-solving.
鈥淣o matter how much research and analysis into something you do, something is unfortunately bound to go wrong or break eventually,鈥 Simmons said. 鈥淲e had several components fail during testing, such as the driveshaft couplers coming loose, and after that was fixed, the propellers were then blown into little pieces. At first, we were lost as to what to do, but we sat down as a team after each failure and brainstormed fixes.鈥
Beyond technical knowledge, students emphasized the value of enhancing their project planning, problem solving and technical communication skills 鈥 all of which will carry into their careers after graduation.
As the first groups to take on the RoboBoat capstone at U海角社区, students said their work provides a foundation for future teams to build on, with the long-term goal of fielding a competitive entry.
鈥淭his project will be reflected upon throughout our professional careers,鈥 Condon said. 鈥淚t provided excellent first instances of many tangible skills. We were honored to pioneer the beginning of this project here at U海角社区, and we hope to see it excel in the future.鈥
Story by William Bickford, graduate student writer
Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu
