Over the past decade, Team Minion has extensively developed and tested code for Minion, our RobotX competition Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV). We designed Mini-Minion to emulate the shape and motor control of its larger counterpart to allow scaled integration of control and autonomy algorithms.
Photo: Testing the RobotX ASV Minion in the Halifax River. (Daytona Beach, FL)
Team Minion is a part of RAER: Robotics Association at Embry-Riddle. As members of RAER, Embry-Riddle students have participated in RoboBoat competitions over the last 13 years!
A sleek design leveraging cutting edge technology, including a 3D VLP-16 LiDAR Puck from Velodyne. This boat won 1st place in 2014 and 2015.
TDR: Floating Point II
TDR: Floating Point IV
A stable single-hull design with space to land a drone. This design won 5th place in 2017 and 4th place in 2018.
TDR: Double Precision
A boat with a uniquely shaped hull. This design earned 2nd place in 2019. It was redesigned in 2021 to support a drone. It went on to win 4th place in 2023.
TDR: Phantom II
On short notice, with limited time and budget, Team Minion built Cyclone from spare parts and an improvised design. To meet baseline competition requirements, the boat utilizes the same visualization and autonomy framework of Team Minion's RobotX boat: Minion.
While at competition, the team developed strategies to harness the full potential of Minion's software development, including the plan to develop a small-scale version of Minion's WAM-V. This new design, called Mini-Minion, mimics the stability and control of Minion to allow easier adoption of Minion's extensive software library.
Learning what works and what doesn’t is part of engineering's iterative design process. Whether a failure or a success, each experience brings us new understanding.
Team Minion doesn't simply stay rooted in the methods we know work well; we use our learning to venture beyond the comfortable and into the realm of innovation.
Hence, meet Mini-Minion: a miniature WAM-V-styled ASV manufactured using lightweight aluminum honeycomb panels and durable TPU pontoons with battery hot-swapping and a ball launcher pressurized by CO2 cartridges.
