09/15/15

The day started off a little late, but when we got on the water we got right to work. We started off with testing our buoyancy by adding weights, and also added a GoPro Camera next to the electronic housing. Once we were anchored we checked our coordinates and started sinking the ROV. It took a few times in and out of the water to get it right. We first realized we had to turn off the dive lights to be able to have more clarity on the live feed. Then we had to take off all of the buoys on the tether in order for the ROV to be able to sink to the bottom.

Finally we got the ROV to the bottom to search for sturgeon. We looked for awhile and didn't find anything but gobies. Meanwhile I asked a few of our team and the crew members some questions. When I asked “What is your view on what we’re doing for this project?” Jake Chapman responded with  “Its alot more of an interesting project than I expected  it would be, and no matter what we are working on the project will prove to be a learning experience for all of us.” I then asked the Captain, David Brooks the same question he responded with “I think it's great! Its an amazing program and for us to be able to collaborate together is a great learning experience for both of our teams.

After two more times of changing our location and not finding anything we decided to pack up for the day and go home.

-Kelly Cool

Robotics Team Member.

09/16/15

Having the experience from the day before helped the team for day two get on the boat and right to work unpacking and setting up our stations. The team from the day before helped us by getting the buoyancy right so that we didn’t have to mess with that and take up our valuable time for the day. When we got anchored we had a few issues with the live feed GoPro and the time that was showing up on the screen, it was a simple fix by switching out the GoPro.

We added another 2 pound weight to see how that would help the robot handle the strong current that we had been trying to work around. Once the robot was in the water we had some confusion with the controls but quickly solved that and got the robot down to the bottom easily. We had clear visibility of the bottom and found some vegetation, round gobey’s (predators to the young of the year), and a mystery object. Overall not a bad dive but we didn’t find any young of the year.

We deployed the robot for a second time after adjusting the placement of the live feed GoPro and adding another 2 pound weight, we deployed once to test motors and pulled it back out again but once the ROV was deployed for a second time we realized that the live feed camera had only one bar of battery left so we had to surface again in order to switch out the GoPro’s. Once we reached the bottom again the current was stronger so it became harder to focus on the screen do to the kick up from the silty bottom. The ROV was resurfaced for a final time and we began to pack up and move on to some trolling with Joe, the PHD student. Over the two days we didn’t find any young of the year but we did learn from this experience and became more prepared for future trips and those who are going to Palau this year got a small taste of what they will be experiencing.  -Poppy Cox  Robotics Team Member.

A big thank you goes out to Joe, and the University of Michigan for supplying the fuel as well as bringing us together for this mission. We would also like to thank Dan for letting us use his boat, the Nancy Kay for this mission as well.