BYU-Hawaii seniors Anuj Sehgal and Jason Kadarusman are developing a low cost autonomous underwater robot.
The robot is designed to recognize and track objects in an underwater environment. Such technology is used to inspect underwater pipeline, mechanical, or electrical systems and explore deep-sea marine life and ship wreckage, explained Leslie Fife, assistant professor of computer science and faculty supervisor of the project.
Sehgal, who is from India and Kadarusman, from Indonesia, were inspired by a robotics class taught by Tim Stanley, professor in computer science and faculty supervisor. Stanley took his students to an underwater robot demonstration in Honolulu. Shortly thereafter, Seghal and Kadarusman began working on a robot of their own.
"It's been a lot of fun," Sehgal said. "It's extremely exhausting, as well," Kadarusman added. The students averaged five hours a week working on the project and put in 40 hours the week preceding finals. The robot is a joint senior project and will be graded.
"Students that work on a project like this out of class learn a lot," Fife said. "The project has been an invaluable learning experience for Sehgal and Kadarusman."
"Personally, I've learned more about computers from this project than from some of my classes," Sehgal said. "We're applying everything we learned in the classroom."
Other students have also been inspired by Sehgal's and Kadarusman's project.
"It's been an amazing thing to watch the other students' reactions to this," Stanley said. "There seems to be some desire to get in and understand and work with hardware, and that's what we're really trying to get to is really understanding computers. I'd recommend we get more people involved."
The students named their robot L.U.V., which stands for low-cost underwater vehicle. The project cost is $600, relatively inexpensive compared to other robots of its kind, and was completely funded by the university. This is the first independently funded project from the School of Computing, according to Stanley.
Seghal and Kadarusman also applied for university sponsorship to enter their robot in an international underwater robotics competition in San Diego. Most of the universities that will participate are Ivy League universities with experienced teams that conduct research with first-rate facilities and budgets of thousands of dollars.
However, Fife has confidence in the students' abilities. "A lot of money and good facilities don't necessarily mean you have the best ideas," Fife said. "Sometimes the simplest ideas work out really well."
Sehgal and Kadarusman are hopeful but also have other reasons for participating in the international competition.
"We want to be able to create a name and image for the university and the Computer Science Department," Sehgal added. "It would be nice to have BYU-Hawaii looked upon by outsiders as developers of cutting edge technology. It would also give more students the desire to try and do more new things and promote the university to prospective students who wish to pursue higher technology studies."
The students and faculty supervisors ran a test on the prototype in the campus swimming pool on April 19. They will continue working on the robot through the spring and summer to prepare for the competition in August.