The Fellowship Forms

It was great meeting the whole team in person! Being able to talk and laugh before and after the AUV mission was fun and I think the team got to know each other fairly well. The AUV itself is super cool and seeing it in action was very satisfying; I can't wait to see it in Malta!

Action shot

The Harvey Mudd students all impressed us with the work they have already been up to. The Cal Poly students hope to show some progress on our side soon!

The hardworking students

I think we have a fantastic team and Malta will be fun for everyone. I look forward to seeing everyone again!

The Beginning

I had a great time meeting the HMC team! We started off with introductions and a great lunch, and then launched the AUV. It was awesome having the HMC team there to show use how to put together and control the robot.

We also had a great time bonding that night! We got to go on a hike through Cal Poly's Architecture Graveyard. It was so much fun showing off a unique aspect of our school to our new team! We also had a team dinner at Firestone and then ice cream. (I'm glad everyone knows my love for ice cream before they have to hear me talk about it all summer... I'm considering it a fair warning!)

The next morning we got together for a quick breakfast and presentations about what we are doing as individuals for the project and about Malta. I did mine on Malta's ecology, so everyone is well aware about what is poisonous now (i.e. stay away from Bearded Fireworms).

Overall, I had an amazing weekend and I have never been more excited for this summer!

The Cal Poly Trip, Or The AUV Enters Ocean Waters

The trip to Cal Poly was a success!

I was so excited to meet the Cal Poly team, and I am even more excited now for all the adventures we'll have in Malta.

On Saturday we successfully launched two missions in the Avila Beach pier, and on Sunday we each gave presentations on Malta, as well as the work we've done so far.

The team watching the AUV complete its dive mission.

The whole gang.

Weekend at Cal Poly!

Our ICEX team did great this weekend at Cal Poly. The HMC and Cal Poly students worked well together to conduct our first AUV ocean deployments. Check out Jeff and the AUV in the image below.

All the students gave informative presentations on Sunday. I think we are all excited to get on our flight to Malta...

Meet the team and the robot

It was great to meet the Harvey Mudd students and Christopher this weekend in person. I learned how to drive the robot manually, as well as set up autonomous routes. This was an exciting experience; I really enjoyed seeing all the sensors, servos, propellers, and lights on the AUV working together to get it to move smoothly through the water. I'm looking forward to doing this in Malta and being able to collect useful data, instead of just practicing with it.

I enjoyed listening to everyone's technical and cultural presentations on Sunday. Particularly, Jane's technical talk. I have a passion for algorithms, and so I'm interested in seeing how her final work comes together, and I hope to help out where ever I can.

Amy putting the fins on the AUV.

The AUV doing an autonomous route off the Cal Poly pier.

Cal Poly SLO Deployment

The HMC students traveled up to Cal Poly to meet the other half of the team for the first time in person. On Saturday we had lunch, and introduced the IVER3 to the Cal Poly team. We did two small missions off the Cal Poly Research Pier. One of them was a short sonar dive mission that I had planned. When the robot dove during a turn Professor Clark informed me that the IVER should always be moving straight when you dive; otherwise, the robot might loose its positioning. The next five minutes were a bit scary, but it surfaced fine at the end.

On Sunday we each gave a presentation on some element of Maltese culture and on our technical work. A fun fact from my presentation on Maltese government: Malta has the highest voter turnout of non-mandatory voting countries and uses Single Transferable Voting to elect their parliament representatives.