MECHANICAL DESIGN

Let’s take a look at our mechanical design.

In order to prepare The Nala Ares, our mechanics are responsible for creating an arena where our prototypes can conduct trials. After that, mechanics are also responsible for furnishing the ship and assisting with the installation of electrical components and programming that programmers have created to run our ship prototype.The carbon fiber hull used by Nala Ares is stronger and fireproof and to make our prototype lighter, Nala Ares is then outfitted with a more effective main deck frame feature and furthermore, our prototype has an x-drive and azimuth system to provide moreflexible ship movement than the prototype we used to compete last year.

TESTING ARENA

The team built a variety of testbeds to evaluate the boat’s performance on various missions, built to meet the team’s requirements and strategies. The Navigation Channel was constructed using recycled penny plates and spools of filament. The buoys were attached with rope and attached to Styrofoam squares to keep them afloat. The buoys were painted to match competition regulations to ensure compliance. The Mapping Migration Patterns arena featured custom-built buoys made from colorful plastic balls, secured with four-way rope and adhesive. The Treacherous Waters docking arena was the most complex construction, using a Styrofoam box with reinforced wood walls to hold cable connectors to maintain buoyancy. A banner frame made of ½-inch pipe, a sealed lid, and meranti wood supports to prevent excessive stress and sagging all contributed to the structural stability of the structure. The crew successfully transported the structure a distance of 1.5 kilometers from their workshop to the campus lake testing site. This realistic approach to arena construction demonstrates how to meet competition requirements while efficiently utilizing readily accessible resources, allowing for thorough testing of the ship's capabilities in all challenge scenarios.

HULL DESIGN

Based on Proteus 2.0's performance at Roboboat 2024, several critical issues were identified. The vessel suffered from overdraft due to excessive component weight, unstable reverse movement caused by its flat stern design, and an ineffective bow thruster. To address these challenges, the team implemented a lower draft design to protect electrical components, incorporated a tapered stern to reduce resistance during backward movement, and transitioned from a V-shaped to flat-bottom hull to accommodate X-drive propulsion installation.

HULL PRODUCTION

The hull production employed carbon fiber material, chosen for its superior properties compared to glass fiber. The manufacturing process involved mold fabrication using 6mm plywood and 3mm PVC, followed by product manufacturing through manual hand lay-up technique. The process utilized multiple carbon fiber layers, resin epoxy application, and various supporting materials to ensure structural integrity and finish quality.