MATE ROV WarriorTides

WarriorTides is an entirely student-run team from Valley Christian High School based in San Jose, California, specializing in underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) design and deployment. This eight-person team is innovating cutting-edge products capable of addressing today’s oceanic issues, including research data collection, SMART cable deployment, coral and sturgeon restoration, and working in tandem with a GO-BGC float. WarriorTide’s latest completed innovation is Panini, which is more technically sophisticated and reliable than any previous products. Meticulously manufactured through prototyping, testing, and troubleshooting, Panini can efficiently perform a wide range of mission tasks, earning WarriorTides 4th place at the MATE ROV Competition World Championships in 2024.

(Panini completing tasks at 2024 World Championships)

The fifth ROV completed by WarriorTides, Panini, features eight T200 thrusters configured to support all six degrees of freedom. This agility, coupled with a two-point rotation manipulator and a low-latency dual-stream vision system, creates the optimal driving experience. Additionally, Panini’s highly serviceable interconnecting PCB and modular laser-cut Delrin frame facilitate easy maintenance and adaptability. Equipped with multiple specially designed mission tools, including a Gatling float, Panini is capable of advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Key Mechanical Design Choices:

Electronics enclosure sandwiched between in-house laser cut Delrin sheets with custom mounting points for rotating parallel gripper (claw), external camera, thrusters, and buoyancy

Simple form-factor enabled early season testing, and new components could be added to the ROV as they were designed

Enables the ROV to maintain all 6 degrees of freedom

Lightweight and sleek for increased speed and reduced drag

Key Software Design Choices:

Development of proportional-integral- derivative (PID) controllers and pilot graphical user interface (GUI) to improve the driving experience

Focus on computer vision algorithms and programs specific to mission tasks Developed failsafe code that initiates automatic restarts if a component crashes or fails to respond

Panini’s electronics system consists of four interconnecting PCBs: the Passthrough board, ESC board, Raspberry Pi (RPi) board, and Spacer board. 

The Passthrough board streamlines all wire connections to the flange.

The ESC board houses all ESCs and an Arduino Mega Pro. The Arduino generates PWM signals for the ESCs, which are routed through the Passthrough Board into the thrusters. 

The RPi Board is home to an RPi 4, Fathom-X, and a mini ethernet switch. WarriorTides can remotely access the pi via Ethernet and upload new code to the Arduino Mega Pro over the tether without having to open the enclosure. 

The spacer board connects across from the passthrough board, and serves as structural support.

All of Panini’s PCBs were designed by team members using Autodesk EAGLE, manufactured by PCBWay, and soldered and assembled in-house. 

(Panini’s electrical system)

As WarriorTides moves onto our next ROV, we are continuing to develop new mechanical designs, software, and a completely reworked electrical system. To accommodate new features such as buoyancy engines, IMU implementation, PH sensing capabilities, etc, a new PC board is currently in design and development. The ability to collaborate with PCBWay for quick prototyping and manufacturing ability would be an incredible advantage to the team, and would find much use in future projects to come. We are incredibly grateful to PCBWay for their role in manufacturing our PCB’s, as well as their incredible service and support in all of our underwater engineering projects!

(Current development of this year’s ROV)