Program Overview
Many of the final frontiers of exploration on Earth are underwater – the deep ocean, water-filled cave systems, and under Antarctic ice shelves . Exploring the farthest reaches of these areas requires underwater piloted or semi-autonomous vehicles. Hydrostatic pressure, dynamic currents, darkness, curious sea creatures and slimy bacteria make underwater places difficult to navigate. True underwater autonomy is difficult to achieve, and even the most advanced piloted vehicles are frequently lost. This course will introduce students to the challenges faced by real-world ocean engineers in designing, building and programming autonomous underwater autonomous vehicles (AUVs). The culmination of the summer course will be an exciting test of true autonomy – the student AUVs will autonomously navigate a simulated underwater obstacle course, applying real-time decision making based on feedback from onboard sensors.
This program consists of two components: an online & pre-requisite course open to all interested students and a four-week summer program for a select group of students. See our FAQ for most up to date schedule.
Course Topics
- Vehicle control
- Sensor integration (software)
- Data analysis
- Image processing
- Autonomy
Prerequisites
- Python (basic)
- Physics (any level)
- Linear algebra (any level)
Summer Course Outline
Week 1
- Introduction to marine autonomy
- Setting up computing environment
- Foundational tools – linux, vim, C++, cmake
Week 2
- Single-vehicle autonomous operations
- Mission analysis
- Writing your own sensor-driven behavior
- Individual project
Week 3
- Multi-vehicle autonomous operations
- Individual challenge problem
- Final challenge team formation
Week 4
- AUV Final Challenge execution
Location
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States
Contact: bwsi-admin@mit.edu
Program
