This is The Typewriter Repairmen's page for the 2020 National Underwater Robotics Challenge, a competition put on by Si Se Puede in Tempe, AZ.

The Typewriter Repairmen is a family robotics club. Jim, the Principal Instigator, is a "retired" mechanical engineer. He has worked with the local FIRST high school robotics team NERDS for the past 13 seasons as an engineering mentor, and discovered that it's about the most fun thing there is. Janet, his wife, is a retired engineer. Jim's brother David is an Electrical Engineer at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, and also runs a side business Cathode Corner, which sells neat electronic gadgets.

All through the project we have been posting videos on youtube.

January 24, 2020

We signed up for NURC 2020! Now, we have to figure out how to modify our 2019 robot to play the new game. We built a new ROV last year, using as many off the shelf parts as possible from Blue ROV. We had some troubles with it, mainly due to the intended use of the design, which is not playing in a competition like this.

We are thinking about making our own control system, hopefully using some commercially available parts, and then programming it to do what we think needs to be done. David and Linus have talked about using a Teensy controller, and we are hoping to get a board from Desert Wave team at ASU.

First, we have to analyze the game requirements. At a quick look, it appears that a claw might not be needed, but being able to hook things might be helpful. Also, there is a part of the game that appears to require a lot of extra buoyancy, or vertical thrust. We might want to modify our design to add another thruster, or at least test what we have to see if it is strong enough.

Caspar, from last year. Expect some changes this year.

Typewriter Repairmen 2020 NURC Robot

January 24, 2020