Azimuth Controls

Minion's propulsion system utilizes Copenhagen Subsea VM rim-driven propellers (RDPs), designed with integrated brushless motors for high efficiency. The RDPs are housed in custom aluminum motor pods filled with closed-cell foam for buoyancy and durability. Using Volz DA36 LP servos, the RDPs have a azimuth range of ± 90° , enabling precise control. The system also includes Linak LA36 linear actuators for automatic retraction of the RDPs during launch, retrieval, and beaching. This design allows for improved maneuverability, adaptability, and reduced human intervention, ensuring seamless operations in various conditions.

The racquetball launcher is a pneumatic ball launching
system that can aim at the target and fire four
consecutive shots without manual intervention. With two pressure tanks, a barrel, a reloader, solenoid
valves, a stepper motor, a linear actuator, a Raspberry Pi
4B, an Arduino MEGA 2560, a LED panel, and an emergency
stop button, the ball launcher is able to kinematically calculate the direction and height it needs to aim by knowing the distance and location from Minion’s ROS messages.

Minion’s UAV (aka Kevin)

The team's UAV system, Kevin, is a quadcopter equipped with four 400KV brushless DC motors. It features the latest autopilot technology from Pixhawk and CUAV, along with a Raspberry Pi onboard computer that runs the necessary software packages to perform various tasks.