The second robot was built in summer 2006. It attempted to solve many of the problems found in the first robot. It employs two sails and two rudders to allow the boat to sail in a straight line with little or no rudder corrections (single sailed boats tend to veer off course). The compass was placed on a swinging arm to keep it level as the compass in the previous boat tended to generate errors as the boat leaned.
This robot took part in the 2006 Microtransat Challenge in Toulouse, France. Photos from the challenge are available in the Photos section of this site. A few videos are also available in the video section.
Features:
- Plywood hull, approx 1.5m long
- 30cm deep keel
- Two 90cm high plastic wing sails, driven with stepper motors.
- Two rudders, angled slightly outwards to keep the rudders vertical when the boat tilts.
- CMPS03 compass on a swinging arm
- Wind vane connected to a potentiometer to form a wind direction indicator.
- Robostix (ATMega128) microcontroller for control purposes.
- Gumstix Single-Board-Computer running Linux, with an 802.11 (wifi) card for remote access. Communicates to the Robostix via an i2c bus, allows reflashing of the robostix via SSH.
