Underwater ROV Robotic Manipulator

This is by far the most complicated (and coolest!) project I have completed. For our senior capstone project, we had 1 semester to design, fabricate, and test a 3 DoF robotic gripper for picking up sea sponges. We worked with Chesapeake Bay conservation researchers on the design, and got to present it at the first annual UMD Design Expo.

The arm mounted underneath an ROV (remote operated vehicle) and was designed to fold up when not in use. My portion of the design was the end effector, which used a leadscrew driven 2 jaw gripper system. I handled the electrical integration of it, and wrote the python script for control. In addition to the design and production of the end effector, I was in charge of all manufacturing and waterproofing of motors.

This project was one of my most expansive to date. I had to blend mechanical and electrical design, keeping in mind the extreme environment it had to function in. After many, many all nighters, redesigns, and infuriating mistakes we had a fully functioning system that did what we set out to do.