Autonomous Surface Vehicle Status Report 1 Since the end of the last semester we received the detailed competition

guidelines for our boat. For this year's competition the boat has to perform several different tasks that we are graded on. These tasks included three main task that will make up the bulk of our score and four sub tasks we can complete for extra points. The three main tasks include a speed test to test the max speed of our boat, a thrust test where we measure the max thrust and hauling capability of our boat, and the obstacle course where the boat has to maneuver between red and green buoys and around yellow buoys occasionally placed between them. The four sub tasks included recognizing out of four objects which is hotter and recording the gps location, put out a boat that is on "fire" with a water cannon, navigate under a waterfall and deactivate the waterfall, and retrieve an object from land. It was anticipated that the competition requirements would be diverse which is why we designed the hull to be modular. With the start of the semester we began running tests on our modular design to measure its performance. Factors such as the boats speed depending upon the power given to the motors, turning capability with both motors forward but at different power levels, and turn on a dime capability with one motor forward and one motor in reverse. These tests also helped determine the reliability of our hardware. We found that we had fuses in the boat that were not able to handle the amperage so we had to replace them with fuses rated to handle the load. The pontoons were also found to not be buoyant enough as we have more components to add in the future and the current pontoons can't handle the load. The shape of the pontoons also reduces the turning ability of the boat. Once the boat picks up speed and momentum the long flat sides of the pontoons that sit low in the water restrict the ability of the boat to turn quickly. The last component we tested was the Xbox Kinect cameras; we found that in the day time the cameras become over saturated with sunlight. The result is that the cameras can't detect the infrared signal it sends out among the UV rays of the sun. This means the cameras can only detect object visually in their current form. Because the members of the Electrical Engineering team graduated last semester the beginning of this semester involved getting the mechanical engineering team caught up on their work. In the first week or so the graduate student attached to the project on the Electrical engineering side taught us the layout of the electrical box, its components, and issues with putting it together. We also learned the coding that will make the boat run, for now we have altered it so we can run our test but the coding to make the boat operate on its own will have to be created once we get the cameras attached and figure out the base line capabilities of the boat through testing.