Hydrofoils and Active Stabilization

Hydrofoils are extremely efficient in water due to their ability to generate high amounts of lift, which in turn will lift the hull of the vessel out of the water and greatly lower the drag of movement in water. Much of the drag in maneuverable hydrofoil systems comes from control surfaces like rudders and ailerons that are used to steer and stabilize the vehicle. We aim to address this by introducing an active stabilization system that functions outside of the water. This further reduced drag will be used to enable a lightweight and highly efficient autonomous vehicle for sampling and environmental monitoring

Wave Assisted Vehicle for Exploration (WAVE)

One major area of interest is the use of energy harvesting to further improve the endurance of our hydrofoil system. When people ride hydrofoils they often catch a wave like a surfer and use that to propel them where they would like to go. The WAVE will do the same, just as a fully robotic platform. This will allow the vessel to turn off its propeller and glide on the swell, which will vastly improve the endurance of the battery and range of the overall robot. WAVE will use a newly designed control system that will once again take inspiration from humans riding foils. Similar to how humans shift their weight while riding foils and surfboards to remain stable, turn, and carve into a wave, the WAVE will do the same. This will control the roll and pitch of the robot and therefore control the robot's stability and allow it to leverage roll yaw coupling to turn. This will further the efficiency gains from the foil by making the underwater portion as streamlined as possible.

eDNA Sampling