2024 - 2025
Iceberg ASV will be returning to the International RoboBoat competition in March 2025, to represent Newfoundland & Labrador and Canada. The team recently competed in the Njord Autonomous Ship Challenge in August 2024.
Check out our blog below to see what we’ve been up to!
2024 - 2025 Blog:
Protecting Electronics on the Water: Challenges and Improvements in Electrical Housing for Sonny’s Dream
Our ASV’s electrical housing has been a challenge for Iceberg ASV since our first competition in 2023. The continuous upgrades to the boat’s electrical, mechanical, and software components have made maintaining an organized and reliable electrical housing difficult. Through the iterations of Sonny’s Dream in previous years, we have used everything from taped Tupperware containers to old toolboxes with attached Command Strips to hold our electronics down until finally, we could acquire IP-rated electrical enclosures.
These inadequate housing systems have ultimately led to electrical wiring looking like bird’s nests, with loose terminal blocks and clustered electronics. This made troubleshooting and set-ups particularly intimidating, frustrating, and sometimes explosive for our team! Therefore, a consistent goal for the Electrical Team is the continuation of cleaning up and improving the electrical housing, ultimately leading to a safer ASV that has easily accessible electrical components.
Most recently, we implemented a steel mounting plate, cable tray, and improved DIN rails for the electronics inside the housing. As a result of these improved electrical housing components, our maximum time in the water went from 20 minutes to 1 hour as we devoted a set of batteries to the ASV’s motors and incorporated easy-to-follow wiring for our electronics. Take a look at the photos on the left to see how we’ve tided our electrical system for the team’s advantage!
January 2025
Growing with Iceberg ASV: Skills, Inspiration, and Exciting Opportunities
January 2025
My name is Brooklyn Watkins, and I am currently the Junior Project Manager for Iceberg ASV. Joining the team has been an incredible experience that has greatly enhanced my organizational skills and broadened my professional network within the engineering discipline. Working under the guidance of our Senior Project Manager, Madison, has been truly inspiring, as her leadership and expertise have motivated me to strive for excellence in my role. Managing projects such as team recruitment, having a presence on social media platforms, and producing competition deliverables has taught me how to effectively plan, prioritize, and coordinate tasks to ensure smooth execution, which has been invaluable in my personal and academic life. Additionally, being part of this team has allowed me to connect with like-minded individuals, fostering friendships with peers who share a passion for innovation and problem-solving. I am absolutely thrilled to attend my first competition, RoboBoat 2025, this March, which marks an exciting milestone in my journey with Iceberg ASV. These experiences have not only enriched my journey in engineering but have also opened doors to potential future opportunities, both within the field and beyond.
Advancing Computer Vision
The Iceberg ASV team has been hard at work refining our autonomous surface vessel (ASV) computer vision capabilities in preparation for the RoboBoat 2025 competition. Here’s an update on our latest developments and efforts to ensure our ASV performs optimally during the event.
Building a Realistic Testing Environment
To simulate competition conditions, the team prepared buoys—key obstacles in RoboBoat—by painting them in vibrant colours that are commonly encountered during the event. These buoys were then set up in a lake to recreate a testing environment that mirrors real-world conditions.
Gathering Data Under Diverse Weather Conditions
Recognizing the impact of lighting and weather variations, we recorded data using ROS2 bags during sunny and cloudy conditions. This ensures that our vision system is exposed to a range of scenarios it may encounter during the competition.
Streamlining Data Processing
We developed a custom script to process ROS2 bag files efficiently. This script extracts raw image data, converts it into PNG format, and organizes it into directories for analysis. This automation has significantly expedited the data preparation process.
Improving Model Performance with Edge Cases
Our computer vision team reviewed the newly collected images to identify edge cases where our previous custom model underperformed. These images were automatically labelled using the Roboflow Auto Image Labeling API, which leverages our existing model to generate annotations. The auto-labeled annotations were then carefully reviewed and refined by the team. By combining automation and manual review, we saved a significant amount of time and enhanced resource allocation across the team.
Robust Dataset Management with Roboflow
We continue to manage our custom dataset in Roboflow, taking advantage of its versioning and augmentation features. Augmentations, such as image flipping and brightness adjustments, have helped us create a more robust dataset.
Versioning and Continuous Improvement
Each dataset version is trained using the Roboflow YOLOv8 Colab Notebook. To track progress, we store different versions of our models in a real_world_marine_markers_custom_dataset_yolo_training repository. We have integrated a way for tracking our detailing augmentations, annotation techniques, and the origins of new images. This structured approach allows us to systematically analyze what works and to make continuous improvements.
Looking Ahead
As we move closer to the RoboBoat competition, the team remains committed to refining our computer vision system. The combination of realistic testing, robust dataset management, and innovative tools like Roboflow has positioned us well to tackle challenges in the future.
Feel free to check out our Roboflow workspace!
January 2025
The Evolution of Hull Design: Past, Present, and Future
Since the Iceberg ASV team's inception in 2022, the catamaran hull configuration has been a defining feature of its design. However, the hull form and manufacturing methods have steadily evolved.
For the Roboboat 2023 competition – Iceberg ASV's first-ever competition – the team crafted the hulls by hand using pink insulation foam coated with Flex Seal. This approach was ideal for the team's early days as it was simple, inexpensive, and allowed for quick adjustments after testing. For example, if the hulls were too buoyant, they could be reshaped and resealed efficiently. However, this method had significant drawbacks: the hulls were asymmetrical due to hand-shaping, and the Flex Seal coating was prone to peeling off after collisions with buoys or other obstacles. This method produced the team's first competition hulls, called "Lukey's Boat."
In preparation for Roboboat 2024, the team sought to address the durability issues while retaining the reliable buoyancy of the insulation foam. We opted to reinforce the hulls with fibreglass, which significantly improved their resistance to damage from collisions with buoys and docks. Despite this improvement, the hulls remained asymmetrical due to the limitations of hand-shaping.
Later in 2024, for the team’s Njord project, the focus shifted toward creating more symmetrical hulls. To achieve this, we decided to have the foam CNC-machined. This decision introduced new challenges. Communicating precise specifications with the machine shop proved tricky, leading to miscommunication that resulted in incorrect cutouts requiring corrections. The CNC machining also increased costs significantly, with the team spending $800 on the machining of two hulls. Although the resulting hulls were narrower and deeper, which improved hydrodynamics by reducing the block coefficient, the design sacrificed some stability compared to previous iterations.
Looking ahead to Roboboat 2025, the team is revisiting the hull form used in Roboboat 2024 but with slight modifications to reduce the turning radius and overall weight. To avoid the challenges associated with CNC machining while still improving symmetry, the team has devised a new method involving sandwiching foam between 3D-printed ribs. These ribs, based on the CAD model, will serve as guides for shaping the foam, ensuring greater accuracy and consistency in the hull forms. The hulls will again be reinforced with fibreglass to maintain sturdiness. This hybrid approach of leveraging 3D printing and hand-finishing aims to balance precision, cost, and durability, further refining the Iceberg ASV's performance.
November 2024
Using CoLab Software as an Organizational Tool
CoLab Software is one of Iceberg ASV’s main sponsors, they have supported our team through monetary donations and access through their software, which has been instrumental to the development of our hull design. The Iceberg ASV Design Team Collab to facilitate Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model review and streamline efficiency;
Colab is a cloud-based platform designed to streamline design reviews and enhance collaboration amongst engineering teams. Our team relies heavily on SolidWorks as our primary CAD software for creating and prototyping; however, this has presented challenges. SolidWorks files are often large and complicated to share efficiently; some team members with less powerful laptops cannot run the software, and the platform does not support simultaneous collaboration. Implementing CoLab has effectively addressed these issues by providing features to enhance team collaboration and accessibility. CoLab enables secure sharing of CAD files, allowing team members, including those in the Electrical and Software teams who do not use SolidWorks, to access and review models. Its in-context feedback functionality allows users to pin comments directly onto 3D models, enabling senior members to provide precise feedback to junior members and identify areas for improvement.
Furthermore, CoLab runs seamlessly with SolidWorks, ensuring that revisions made in SolidWorks are automatically reflected in CoLab. This simplifies version control and eliminates miscommunication. This tool has transformed our workflow by overcoming accessibility barriers, promoting a collaborative review culture, and enhancing team efficiency. The figure to the left shows that the CoLab interface exemplifies how in-context comments have streamlined our design review process.
To keep things organized, the CoLab is also structured to allow older CAD files to be located quickly. The Iceberg ASV CoLab workspace is organized to streamline the design and development process for various competitions. At the top level, it contains folders for each competition cycle, such as Roboboat 2024, Njord 2024, and Roboboat 2025, along with an onboarding folder. Each competition folder is subdivided into categories representing significant subsystems of the ASV, such as hulls, thruster mounts, or electrical integrations. Within these subfolders are various components related to that category with additional descriptors. For example, in the Thruster Mount folder, one might find part names such as Thruster-Mount-Shaft, Thruster-Mount-Socket, etc. The diagram to the left illustrates the breakdown of folders and subsystems for each project.
Implementing CoLab into our Design Team workflow has been a significant step for our team. It has proven to be an invaluable tool, resolving key challenges with SolidWorks and enabling seamless collaboration across disciplines. By leveraging its features, we’ve improved efficiency, enhanced communication, and ensured all team members can effectively contribute to the design process.
October 2024
Iceberg ASV at Njord Autonomous Ship Challenge 2024
August 2024
Iceberg ASV competed in the Njord Autonomous Ship Challenge for the first time in August 2024. Our team was awarded the Team Spirit Award, and placed 5th overall in the competition!
Attending the Njord Challenge was an amazing experience for us all. We're coming home with so many new ideas, inspiration, and global connections. The lessons learned here will allow us to innovate and grow in our future competitions
We are especially proud to be recognized with the Team Spirit award. The Njord Challenge creates a friendly environment that encourages collaboration; our team certainly made the most of it. All our team members were there to encourage and to learn from every team. We've made new friends from all around the world including Portugal, Scotland, India, Poland, and Norway.
Thank you to our sponsors and mentors for the support to make this happen!
And of course, special thank you to our whole team who worked tirelessly to allow us to compete!
Congratulations to all teams, and thank you Njord for having us!