The close

It was our last full day in Malta and most of us started it by sleeping in. Amy left early in the morning to attend her last Maltese water polo practice. Once everyone was up we disassembled Vernon so he could be packed away. Then we went on a small excursion to Marsaxlokk to visit the Għar Dalam Caves. We finished the day by having dinner at Surfside with Timmy and his wife, Belle.

Amy: 
W.O.W. I cannot believe tonight is our last night in Malta. I had such an amazing time here with both ICEX and water polo. It was so great to actually be able to do field work in a career that I thought would only fill my future with cubicles. I loved the deployments and being on the boat with my team and Jason, especially when Vernon brought back good data. Timmy is so funny and nice, and it was great working with. I am so grateful that he was able to introduce me to the Sliema Women's Water Polo team. I also got to practice with Malta's National Women's team, but I especially bonded with the ladies of Sliema. I'm so happy that I had the opportunity to make so many great friends through water polo, and I feel like it completely shaped my experience here in Malta. I was not here just to work (although don't worry, there was plenty of that!), I got to play the sport I love with people that I will never forget. I only hope that someday I will get to see them and their beautiful island again.

Getting a Sliema Women's swim cap as a gift from my amazing coach Mario and lovely team.

Wentao:
ICEX is such a unique research experience. Before coming to Malta, I could not imagine I would be doing robotics research on a boat. I still remember one of our presenter asked us whether we were studying underwater archaeology, and the surprise on his face when he learned that we were studying computer science. During this month, we faced many challenges, from not getting good sonar data to AUV refusing to dive. I learned a lot from the process of tackling these challenges. Besides robotics research, we also had an amazing cultural experience. Malta was a complete mystery to me a month before, but after the fascinating presentations by our speakers and weekend trips to prehistoric temples and grand cathedrals, I became deeply interested in the history of this small Mediterranean island. I am very thankful to this opportunity and will definitely recommend it to students who are interested in an immersive research and cultural experience.

Roslyn:
Malta has been a great learning and bonding experience. I was excited to do something with computer graphics, but be working with people from different fields, like math, robotics, and archeology. I think this project reaffirmed my choice of software engineering as my major and my passion for computer graphics. The month has been so busy and full of excitement. The discovery of new wrecks were probably some of my favorite moments, and getting to watch the divers go down and explore them. Socially, ICEX was also an amazing experience. I am so grateful for the team I had, and I think I made some lifelong friends. We meshed so well, worked great together, and learned a lot from each other. I think the Harvey Mudd students may visit us at Cal Poly for our fall break, which would be a blast. One thing I wish we had been able to do more of was interact more with Maltese people and students. I very much enjoyed working with Timmy's masters and phd students, but none of them were Maltese. Their research was very interesting though, and I always love talking with people from other cultures and hearing their experiences. Overall, it's been a fantastic month. I am ready to go home for summer, but I will always look back on my time in Malta and the people I was with with fondness. I also want to give a special thanks to Zoe and Chris, for all the work they do, and giving each of us this amazing opportunity.

Jeffrey:
Before the start of the trip in Malta the team had met twice: once at Cal Poly and once at Catalina. From these two meetings I thought all the people were nice, but was not sure how the trip was going to go. However, after living with everyone in Malta for a couple of days I was very happy to be around my fellow teammates. I hope these friendships will be some of my longest lasting.

At the beginning of the trip I was also unsure how the technical side of things would go. We had yet to take good sonar data with Vernon and the classification algorithm Wentao and I had been working on was based on a small set of sonar data that was captured with different sonar arrays than were on Vernon.

When we arrived one of the first things we did was meet with Timmy where he gave use some information on using the sonar. For example he explained the difference between the high and low sonar and good range and depth combinations for acquiring data. Using this new information and a some trial deployments we were able to become proficient using the sonar in only a few days.

As for the classification algorithm, it turned out to perform very similarly to as it had on the previous data set. Despite this the algorithm still needed a lot of work to increase its precision. Wentao and I spent our coding time in the the first two weeks trying new filters to increase the precision. None of our attempts were successful. Then in the next week we spent most of our time debugging technical issues with Vernon and trying to extract accurate positions from the sonar scans.

From the technical experience, I think the most valuable lesson I learned was from spending time working on things that didn’t work or didn’t work well enough. In the future I need to accept when things do not work and move on to other solutions.

Sam:

This past month in Malta has been a blast. As a team I feel like we've bonded strongly and have worked together well. I'm looking forward to an ICEX team reunion! The beginning was a little rough with the AUV while we figured things out and got comfortable with each other but we all learned and improved quickly. Towards the end of the trip our deployments became very smooth and successful. Our work felt important and I'm glad we were able to work with Timmy and his master's students at the University of Malta. I'm also excited to continue working over the summer with Amy and Zoe to improve the reconstruction and explore some new ideas. ICEX has been a fantastic experience and I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of it.

Jane:
This past month has been an adventure I will always remember. College introduced me to robotics, but ICEX has given me the experience and confidence to pursue a field that makes me excited to work every day. I will never forget the simultaneous fear and joy of sending the AUV into the open sea for the first time, and nothing was more satisfying than coming home after a long but successful deployment. While there were ups and downs during the trip, the team always managed to tackle the many challenges that come with underwater robotics (i.e. floating plastic bags in the sea). Between fixing the compass and finding out about important safety settings, we managed to discover a new plane and boat, as well as obtain some amazing footage of the Beaufighter. Amy, Roslyn, Sam, Jeff, Wentao - Thanks for being the best team I could ask for. We managed to survive a month together without anyone falling off a cliff, and we had so much fun along the way. We had some crazy adventures around Malta, but my favorite memories will always be the times we really got to know each other better (read: card games). Chris, Zoe - Thanks for being the best mentors and for giving us this opportunity. You are my role models! Timmy - Thanks for being you and for all the Kn you've given us this past month. I'm so thankful to be a part of the ICEX team, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend this summer. Ciao for now Malta!

Last Saturday in Malta

Today we explored St. John's Co-Cathedral, the Palace Armoury, and the Malta Maritime Museum, and we are all going to share about our favorite parts of the day.

Amy: My favorite part of today was visiting St. John's Co-Cathedral. It's amazing how from the outside it looks plain, but inside is so beautiful and full of art. For me, the most interesting part was the room dedicated to the artist, Caravaggio. As someone working in computer graphics, I appreciate good lighting in a scene. Caravaggio truly is the master of lighting, and I really loved his work.

Roslyn: I really enjoyed all of the gold details in the Cathedral on the walls, ceilings and floors. Everything was decorated with intricacies and perfections. The marble statues, like the one of the Grand Master, had some great history and stories with them. I also thought all of the tomb stones in the floor were very interesting. The cathedral was crowded, and I also thought it was interesting that many people had to cover their shoulders and legs with a gray cloth that was handed out at the entrance. Most people were dressed in summer clothing, but the cathedral required more modest dress.

Jeff: We visited a lot of cool museums today. One I found particularly interesting was The Palace Armoury. The first section we walked through contained many historical pieces of armour. It was cool to see this old technology, but I think my favourite part were all the intricate patterns beautifully inlaid into the armour. The second section contained many historical armaments. I especially enjoyed looking through the progression of musket technology and was very surprised that one of the rifles was powered by compressed air.

Wentao: After the Knights of St John came to Malta in 1530, they brought a great variety of weapons from all over Europe into Malta, and some of them fortunately survived the battles and became part of the stunning collection at the Palace Armoury. As someone who is passionate about cold arms, I must say the Armoury is definitely one of the museums that I enjoyed the most. The weapons are displayed with great care and informative explanation. I learned a lot and could not stop being amazed at the intricate engineering and delicate art of the weapons and armours on display.

Sam: Our last stop today was at the maritime museum. It covered a large range of material from ancient ships and corsairs to more modern battleships. We all had a lot of fun looking at the exhibits and the many models of ships. I was impressed by the amount of engineering and technical expertise that was put into the design, manufacturing, and operation of the ships. The exhibit showing the different parts of a typical steam powered boat and how it all works together was particularly interesting.

Jane: Our last stop today was the Malta Maritime Museum (thanks Liam for the invitation). After a month of exploring and mapping shipwrecks, it was great to learn more about Malta’s maritime history and make connections to the wrecks we’ve visited during our trip. For example, the HMS Maori we’ve visited in Valletta was part of the Mediterranean Fleet, a crucial part of the Royal Navy that defended the Mediterranean Sea for the U.K. It was also amazing to see the intricate hand-drawn plans for the ships. Finally, we also learned that (HMS) Vernon was also part of the Royal Navy!

Main hall of St. John's Co-Cathedral

Happy looking helmets from the armoury

Flasks used for holding gunpowder, made from cow horns

Exploring the palace armoury

Cutest couple

Boat #1 heading over to the maritime museum

Boat #2

Huge torpedoes

Posing at the maritime museum

Digging in the Sun

We started off our day by traveling over to an archaeological dig site (tal-Villa Rumana fiz-Zejtun) to help with excavating some ruins. We were given a quick overview of the site by Dr. Maxine Anastasi and then took a quick break before getting to work. Since the site was covered up with dirt to protect it during the winter, our job was to help uncover the dirt and sediment. After working for a couple hours we were ready to go and eat. We said our goodbyes and took the bus back to our apartment.

The team at the dig site

Wentao and Amy at the informational poster

Listening to Dr. Maxine Anastasi about the archaeological site

Working hard

Hardly working

For lunch we went to Mint, a trendy casual restaurant. They had fantastic food and drinks. We also met up with Timmy briefly to chat. After lunch we went back to the apartment to work on our programming related tasks. Chris and his family also came over briefly to pick up their bags and say hi before leaving us forever :(

For dinner we went out for crepes. Delicious! Afterwards we went out to the beach to say bye to the water polo girls Amy has been practicing with.

A Fulfilling Feast

Today is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, a public holiday in Malta, and a day full of events for us. In the morning, Jeff, Roslyn and I joined Timmy's diving crew. It was our first time to see a deep diving in action. We were surprised by the amount of equipment the divers put on before their dive. We could not imagine how much effort they must have put in to prepare and get familiar with these equipment. This makes us realize the time and energy that can be saved by using autonomous vehicles in underwater tasks.

John and Timmy getting ready to dive

The diving flag

Divers up!

In the afternoon, Amy, Jane, Sam and Zoe went on another boat deployment (and probably our last one). The fix for diving from yesterday proved to be successful and we got our best footage of the Bristol Beaufighter wreck so far!

Amy and Zoe with Vernon

In the evening, we had one of our best dinners in Malta at a Lebanese restaurant called Alibaba. On the way back, we had the fortune of catching a marching band for the Feast.

Bliss after the feast

Maltese marching band

Festive street

Final boat deployment?

I am reflecting on what a smooth well oiled machine the team has become in terms of deployments. Today, watching the team trade off positions carrying the AUV down to the water, preparing hte AUV, calibrating the compass (again just to be sure), then deploying successfully, I was impressed with how much has been mastered and achieved.

Teamwork to get the AUV to the quay

Teamwork to put on the goPros

Teamwork to calibrate

Teamwork to deploy the AUV

<relaxing for a moment>

Happy after deployment (including Tony, Timmy's PhD student working on maritime archeology)

Deployment crew today + Jason, our fantastic boat captain and overall assistant on many deployments

Finally a Fix for Vernon's Diving

Last night Jane and tried to debug Vernon's recent difficulty diving. Our discussion with Ocean Server led us to believe we needed to enable a safety setting that would force Vernon to dive even if the DVL did not have a bottom lock. This was not enough to convince me the DVL was not having problems, so I called the support line of its manufacture. After running several tests with one of manufacture's engineers, I was convinced the safety setting was our problem.

In addition to enabling the safety setting that Ocean Server recommended we enabled a another safety setting that sets a maximum depth if the DVL cannot obtain a bottom lock.  We enabled this to make it sure it was deep enough for the DVL to obtain a bottom lock.  After running some unsuccessful test missions we thought this safety setting might not be function properly because it seemed to prevent Vernon from diving below the depth even when the DVL had a bottom lock.

In our final test mission we disabled this setting and gave Vernon a longer dive length because Jane realized the 150 meters we were giving Vernon to dive was not enough. Unfortunately, Vernon still seemed to have trouble setting an appropriate depth goal even when the DVL had a bottom lock. For example, when Vernon was trying to reach 5 meters off the bottom and was deep enough to obtain a bottom lock he would still set a depth goal for 30 meters off the bottom.

Our next fix was to dive using two waypoints instead of one. The first waypoint would be a depth from surface that was deep enough to obtain a bottom lock. This way Vernon wouldn't need a bottom lock from his DVL to set a depth goal and could instead use his pressure sensor to reach the desired depth. The second way point would be the desired height from bottom. This would force Vernon to dive to depth that would allow the DVL to get a bottom lock. Then when Vernon switches to the height from bottom waypoint he will have the bottom lock required to set an appropriate depth goal.

Jane quickly modified her planner code to incorporate this fix so we could plan a new mission. Finally, during this mission Vernon managed to reach the correct depth.

Trying traditional Maltese Rabbit for dinner.

Sam's amazing ginger cookies

Roslyn attaching GoPros with zip-ties because we ran out of electrical tape. 

Back To Debugging

This afternoon Jeff, Wentao, Zoe, and I went out for another boat deployment to test our image detection to path planning pipeline. Unfortunately we continued to experience diving problems, and we believe we’ve narrowed the problem to the Iver being unable to track the bottom of the sea at deep depths (>80m).

Jeff, Sam, and Wentao calibrating the compass.

 

Zoe guiding the robot.

When we came back to shore, Amy and Sam helped us carry the robot back to the apartment, while Roslyn made everyone delicious dinner. Thanks again Roslyn!

Tonight is the Isle of MTV concert, so Amy, Roslyn, Sam, and Wentao went to experience the largest free concert in Europe! Photos to be posted… Jeff and I stayed behind to continue debugging. Props to Jeff for sending many emails and making phone calls to get more information about how to fix our problem.

Debugging is always the hardest part of robotics, but that’s also what makes it so rewarding when everything works. We will be up early tomorrow for another deployment, and we hope to get Vernon back up and mapping wrecks soon.

Iver Meets Diver

Today Jane, Amy, Zoe, and I went to Elmo's Bay to do another deployment. We were wanting to check that Vernon was still diving ok, as well at try to get good data of the shipwreck there. We did one pass over the shipwreck, 5m above the bottom. All went well, but the video data we collected was very murky, due to a lot of divers around the wreck kicking up sediment. We then ran a second mission going at 3m from the bottom. After the second dive Vernon didn't come back up for about 15 minutes, and we were concerned since each line was only supposed to take one minute. Zoe had gone and talked to some divers to see if they could spot the AUV and bring it up for us, but just as she did we saw Vernon emerge on the surface. Much thanks to the diver who helped release our robot after it got caught in the shipwreck! You can see on the GoPro footage above the AUV getting stuck and then being released by a diver.

Jane at the Deployment in Elmo's Bay

After coming back from deployment, I have been working on some more realistic graphical representations to go with our underwater meshes and make them actually look underwater. Today I finished making my first skydome, to make the beaufighter wreck look like it was underwater.

Skydome around the Beaufighter

Though we got stuck in the shipwreck on our second mission, we got a lot of great GoPro footage since we were so close. So I have also been working on collecting the frames from the video data, and seeing what 3D meshes I can get from them.

Our Day as Gozitans

Sunday, funday! Today, I had the pleasure of waking up early to go to water polo practice in Sliema. I have had the absolute best time playing with these ladies and appreciate the friendships I have been able to build through our common love of the game. It is amazing to me how after only a week in Malta (and help from Timmy), I was able to play the sport I love and have friendships that will hopefully last much longer than the short week we have left here.

The polo girls at practice at the Sliema Pitch.

The rest of the research team came by the pool to pick me up and we made our way to Gozo. Our first stop in Gozo was the Ġgantija temples. We were amazed at how tall they were and had a great time running around with such an amazing view of Gozo. The most interesting part of the temples was how art was used to keep a record of what they looked like before they were destroyed and their history over the last seven/eight centuries.

Sam, me, and Jeff at the temples.

The view of Gozo.

Once we finished being good archeologists, it was time for some well deserved rest and relaxation. Most of the beaches in Malta are either made of rock or covered in them, so we set out to find a sandy beach to better fit our Californian needs. The beach we went to was crowded and still a layer of rocks right when you got to the water line, but it was beautiful and just what we needed! Jane even found a good use for the rocks at the beach.

Just a girl and her rock.

Beach day!

After some very exhausting time at the beach (spent mostly floating in the sea and sleeping in the sand), we went for dinner in Xewkija where the Feast of St. John was happening. We had great food in a gorgeous place, which seems to be a common theme for this trip.

Finally, we all got some rest on the ferry and bus rides home to Sliema.

Super Saturday

This morning we walked over to the University of Malta to have a presentation on using Agisoft Photoscan. This is the software we use to create 3D models and textures of objects from images. The presentation was given by John Wood, one of Timmy's good friends and dive buddies. He gave us some tips on how to get pictures that would work best for Photoscan. We also learned more about diving and got to see some pictures of John, Timmy, and the rest of their team diving some underwater wrecks. Very cool!

Agisoft Photoscan presentation by John

Cooking up a storm for lunch

After the presentation we stopped at an Asian food store and got ingredients for lunch. Jane, Roslyn, and Wentao made some fantastic food! For the rest of the day we were free to do whatever we wanted. Roslyn and Amy went to the beach. Jane and Wentao stayed at the apartment to relax. Jeff and I went to the store to get some baking ingredients after working on our georeferencing script a bit. Apparently molasses is called black treacle here!

The team with John

Amy with some delicious ginger cookies (and Zoe being a goofball)

Today was a great chance to relax and enjoy some time together. Tomorrow we're planning on taking a trip to Gozo and then it'll be back to work for our last week!

Vernon Cleans Up the Sea

Today the team spent the morning working together in the apartment. In the afternoon, Roslyn, Wentao, Zoe, and I went out on another boat deployment, while Amy, Sam, and Jeff continued to work.

More laptops = more productivity.

The plan for the deployment was to test the full pipeline from Jeff and Wentao's image detection algorithm to my path planner. Though Jeff and Wentao are still working on converting the raw sonar scans to position-corrected geotiff files, they were able to give me the coordinates of a few sites of interest. With this information, I generated cross-shaped lawnmower patterns for two sites with my planner.

About half an hour into the first mission, we quickly realized that every deployment always brings a new surprise. Wentao noticed that Vernon had aborted its mission in the middle of visiting the first site, so we drove to where it was parked and checked for problems. Sure enough, there was a long piece of plastic that was tangled in Vernon's propellor. Today we learned that Vernon can not only map shipwrecks, but also clean up trash in the ocean!

The gnarly piece of plastic stuck in Vernon's propellor.

Following this mishap the motor appeared to still be functional, so we decided to continue by visiting the second site. However, GoPro footage and sonar data suggest that Vernon had trouble diving during this second mission, so we plan to revisit both sites next week after debugging the AUV.

Wentao action shot.

Roslyn guiding Vernon in the water.

Meanwhile, Amy, Sam, and Jeff spent the afternoon at the apartment, where they could finally work without me "being so loud." Amy and Sam extended work on camera position planning for photogrammetric reconstruction, while Jeff continued to work on the shipwreck detection algorithm and sonar file conversion.

In other updates, Roslyn has been working on displaying a JU 88 plane wreck reconstruction on her website, as well as adding a feature that displays wreck locations on Google Maps.

After the deployment, the team went to a Sliema vs. Sirens water polo game at the National Pool, where we reunited with Chris and Timmy.

A close game.

Finally, we ended the day with a wonderful dinner with Timmy at Surfside.