ASV Perkoz

ASV Perkoz (English: Grebe) was the very first Autonomous Surface Vehicle built by our team—and probably the one we had the most fun with. We created it for the RoboBoat 2023 competition, which was rescheduled from June to… March! As a result, the entire development process took only four months. It was a whirlwind! The final parts finished 3D printing just 30 minutes before our departure. In fact, ASV Perkoz was assembled for the very first time after our team had already arrived at the hotel in Sarasota.

Our boat was a catamaran, with floats made of styrofoam, plywood, and duct tape. The superstructure was entirely 3D printed and absurdly heavy. The mast for our cameras was fashioned from a PVC pipe. Communications didn’t work, the GPS didn’t work, the Vehicle Control Unit didn’t work, and the electrical components occasionally turned into smoke generators. The autonomy algorithms were practically non-existent. ASV Perkoz was even equipped with a robotic arm designed to deliver a stream of water to a target. Unfortunately, our team didn’t have enough time to write a single line of code to control it.

And yet, we did get some things right. The propulsion system and thruster configuration were implemented in an almost unchanged form in all our future ASVs. The computer vision system performed its role effectively, and similar solutions were used in subsequent vehicles built by our team. We gained invaluable experience that significantly improved our future designs and procedures.

Despite all these shortcomings, our team qualified for the Finals Round. Thanks to our high score for Design Documentation, we ended up in 9th place, which was considered a great success.