Team Minion's software architecture supports perception, autonomy, decision-making, and coordination across the USV, UAV, and UUV platforms. With the transition to a multi-domain competition, the team's software development has expanded beyond the previous WAM-V-based simulation environment to support the smaller USV and the addition of UAV and UUV platforms.
Team Minion uses Gazebo simulation to develop and evaluate software before deploying it to the physical vehicles. The simulation environment has been adapted to represent the team's 2026 vehicle configuration and includes a custom world based on the RobotX competition tasks.
Software can be evaluated in simulation before being deployed to the vehicles, allowing the team to identify and address software issues before using limited in-water and flight testing time. This allows real-world testing to focus on tuning and validating software under physical operating conditions rather than debugging basic software logic.
ROS bag files are used to record sensor data and communication between software algorithms during testing. Recorded data can later be replayed as live observations for performance assessment and algorithm testing. The team stores collected data on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system to provide centralized access to testing data and support analysis following vehicle operations.
Before in-water testing, the team conducts an in-lab vehicle shakedown to verify recent software changes and compatibility with the current vehicle configuration. The shakedown includes updating vehicle code, compiling the software, checking dependencies, verifying propulsion responsiveness, confirming node execution, and checking system communications.
Vehicles may operate through remote control or autonomous modes during software testing, with an RC driver always prepared to take over autonomous operation.
