Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Status Plans Ideas Goals Fun - Project Index

Already finished
  1. App using GPS
  2. App storing to web and reading stuff from web on another phone
  3. Compass app
  4. Bluetooth between phones 
  5. Phone talking to bluetooth relay to turn stuff on/off.
  6. Tested water brake 
  7. Figure out if relays or electromagnets mess up compass 
  8. Put electronics on boat and waterproof
  9. Figure out motor/driveshaft/stuffing box/propeller details
  10. Use phone as bluetooth remote to test hardware
  11.  Log GPS,bat level, status, to website so easy to see how/where boat is
  12. Navigation control - Adjust heading to keep track on course for waypoints.
  13.  Point to a gps location and flash lights with minimal forward motion 
  14. Send Morse code in flashing lights 
  15. Keep track of maximum tilt to see how close to tipping over.
  16. Got phone charging off main battery via USB charger

Future

  1. Tow second boat and release it using electromagnet
  2. Use how fast it can turn boat with one motor on to estimate battery level (may get bluetooth volt meter if not happy with this method but motor speed is proportional to voltage so it should work)
  3. Go to a nearby island and back (1/4 mile).
  4. Go to one location then take a picture aimed at a certain location or direction (ocean shots of houses for real estate).
  5. Put 4 motors/props on a boat for more thrust and fault tolerance
  6. Reducing power usage at night if needed.
  7. Downwind costing mode.  Just use minimal power to keep pointed in the right direction. 
  8. Get pictures from phone working reliably (works many times now but can crash)
  9. While on sea brake record/report wind direction
  10. Mode for motoring toward the wind within limits.  If it shuts down it will then probably slowly drift on sea anchor right back towards you with lots of time for rescue. 
  11. Phone to make gopro take pictures at top of each wave. 
  12. Algorithm to explore the edge of phone service around island
  13. Use microphone on phone to figure rpm on motors.
  14. Use microphone and spinning thing to measure wind speed
  15. Dock two boats with person using phone as bluetooth remote control.  One boat with sea brake on and other docks by slowly controlling how wind pushes it back into that one.
  16. Dock boats using software control with colored lights at different angles to make it easy to get right path like airplane landing lights.
  17. Have phone send texts to several phones when in trouble
  18. Drive in big circles in sandy hill bay for more than 24 hours.
  19. Go to France and back, St Martin is about 7 miles :-) and test roaming data
  20. Go along near reef with GoPro under water making movie 
  21. Blow horn if indication a bird landed (funny acceleration, tipping, slow boat)
  22. Get robot boat to catch fish (motors/props by front floats and fishing line by back).
  23. Have one robot boat able to rescue another robot boat with broken motor(s)
  24. Convoy of robot boats that can change order if front one breaks
  25. Trip around Anguilla
  26. Longer and longer trips - multiple days 
  27. Obstacle avoidance, mostly floating seaweed patches
  28. Cross the Caribbean and back
  29. Satellite data link
  30. Cross the Atlantic
This list will be updated with new ideas and plans.  The top things in the "future" section are probably being worked on or will be soon.  This page will link to future posts from items here.   This post will be the index for the project.

1 comment:

  1. Another idea is to have a light on a servo so it can aim at a spot on land no matter which way the boat is pointed. We can see a lot of ocean from our house and it would be fun to be able to see a light moving around in the ocean at night. Not sure about waterproofing a servo. Not too bad to just have the whole boat point at our house every 5 minutes instead.

    Also like the idea of reflective tape so that another robot boat with a light will have an easier time seeing boat if it is totally dead and no light.

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