As the date for the competition draws nearer, new parts for Triton have been arriving in the lab. Team members Peter Sullivan, James Mwaura, and Kirill Kalinichev proudly display the 2008 competition vehicle.

For the past three weeks, CUAUV has conducted pool at tests at Cornell's Teagle Hall. Software and sealing tests have been successfully conducted on the 2007 Competition Vehicle Proteus.

About 80 local girl scouts came to Cornell University on March 1, 2008, to earn their “Science in Action” Badge.  The event, led by CUAUV, was the second annual outreach program organized by the group.  The girls rotated through five stations to complete badge requirements.  In Emergency Services, the scouts learned about fire safety and emergency evacuation plans.  Engineering 101 allowed the girls to explore a website and to talk to engineers on the team to find out what a career in engineering is all about.  In Got to Communicate, the troops learned about various kinds of communication and they also got to make their own phones.  In addition, the girl scouts had the opportunity to see the CUAUV lab in the Upson ELL during the Science in Manufacturing station.  At the end of the event, all 80 girls and their troop leaders were brought into the Phillips Lounge to complete the fifth and final station – Bridge Building.  The girls were given a stack of newspaper and a roll of scotch tape; their task – to work together in small groups to build the tallest structure possible.  By the end of the day, all 80 girls had completed the five stations, earned their “Science in Action” badge, and learned much more about science and engineering.  As for the team, they can’t wait to have this event again next year!

CUAUV participated in the on campus event Bits on Our Minds (BOOM). BOOM is an annual research conference that showcases student efforts and creativity in digital technology and applications. At the event the CUAUV team displayed parts of their new vehicle.  Team members were also on hand to describe the vehicle and talk about the team.  In addition, there was a demonstration running where BOOM visitors could see first-hand how the vehicle’s vision system works.  Visitors also had the opportunity to friend last year’s competition vehicle, Proteus T. Automaton, on Facebook.  The event was held on February 27th in Duffield Atrium. Participation was open to all Cornell students, and community members.

CUAUV's new vehicle this year will be named Triton.  Triton is the mythological son of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, and he is known as the messenger of the deep.  He is often pictured with a twisted conch shell on which he blew, like a trumpet, to calm or raise the waves.

Much to the amusement to the local press, our software team of Henry Mason and Nick Elser (above) donned their Lawrence of San Diego headwear (which might be hotel towels) in order to read their laptop screens in the sunshine of TRANSDEC. We were also required to keep the electronics rack protected from blowing dirt. Fortunately, Henry and Nick were able to continue polishing their lines of code that control the Proteus during our pool tests today. The mission software was able to track the optical beacons on the buoys, identify and hover over marker bins, grab the treasure, and surface with it in the recovery zone. Check back soon for more media from today's testing.

Henry Mason joined the team in San Diego this morning, bringing our total crew to 12 and filling out the software segment of the competition team.

Above, he (at left) works with fellow software guru Nick Elser (at right) on the Proteus' mission logic in our hotel. The vehicle's central computer, Eddy, is ready to direct further vehicle testing. There were tense moments at the pool last night when Eddy's memory got wet, but after drying out for several hours, Eddy is working again.

Today's list of problems grew after this evening's pool test. We were proud to bring our fully assembled vehicle to our hotel's pool for testing (above), but after several minutes in the water, a battery pod leaked and damaged the circuitry inside. Further testing of the other battery pods led to another leak and circuit failure. We still have two pairs of pods remaining, but we are being very cautious to verify the pods' sealings before further pool testing can continue. Erin Fischell will be working very hard tonight to make these verifications.

Unfortunately, Kirill's Switch Box suffered a failure. Although it was operating normally earlier today, we were unable to resurrect it. Above, Adam Hart installs a workaround to preserve the kill switch feature on the vehicle. Testing this evening has shown that it works.

The Proteus survived its overnight journey to San Diego and was unloaded before lunch today. Our vehicle has been successfully reassembled and powered up, and we hope to test it tonight in our hotel's pool.