ROVER

ROVER

 

Remotely Operated Vehicles for Education and Research

  Jeff Bouwman and students at Shumate Middle School learning to use a ROVER in Gibraltar, Michigan.             

 

ROVER's are being developed and tested during 2019.  

 

ROVER Project Goals:

1) Remotely Controlled (“RC”) boats (AquaROVERS) will be crafted and instrumented to obtain in-water measurements. Key parameters are water temperature, PH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen.

2) A commercial sensor and data system combination will be used and teams are encouraged to develop and test alternatives. Instrument calibration and associated record keeping activities will be incorporated.

3) The platform systems will initially be "X-3" and “X-4” variants of the aquatic ROVER designs, and teams are also encouraged to develop alternative platforms, including those with autonomous navigation.

4) Ground-based ROVERs (TerraROVERs) are suitable for observations such as surface temperature and imaging, and are a good compliment or training system for the more advanced (and operationally intensive) AquaROVERs.

5) ROVER systems can be operated in conjunction with AEROKATS kite observations, providing a lesson in remote sensing/ground validation techniques.