Mako Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Project Mako is a venture undertaken by the University of Western Australia to develop an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for entry into international underwater competitions. The project commenced in early 2004 and sought to begin development on mechanical, control, sonar, navigation, vision and communication systems for the vehicle. The 2004 team consisted of four final year students, Louis Gonzalez, Minh Nguyen, Daniel Lim and Evan Broadway, supervised by Thomas Braunl. Subsequent student teams have now worked on the Mako project and added to its mechanics, electronics, and software.

Equipment

• Mechanics
  • Dual PVC hull construction, linked by aluminum frame
• Controller
  • EyeBot M4 as main controller for sensors and actuators
  • Mini-PC for image processing
• Sensors
  • 4 sonars (echo-sounders)
  • velocimeter (flow current)
  • depth sensor (pressure gauge)
  • digital compass
  • QuickCam web cam
  • Leak sensors
• Actuators
  • 4 boating trolling motors
• Communication (when surfaced)
  • IR remote
  • Bluettoth (EyeBot)
  • WLAN (PC)

Acknowledgements

• Many thanks to the friendly people at Claremont pool for letting us use their diving pool facilities.
• Thanks to Raytheon Australia for their initial sponsorship.
• Thanks to DSPComm for donating an acoustic underwater modem.

Links

• Mako videos
• Mako images
• AUV main page
• International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition (AUVSI)

Thomas Bräunl, 2006