After significant design work, UWRT successfully installed a Downwards Facing Camera (DFC) inside its primary vehicle, Talos. This was done to aid with the bin and table tasks, leveraging the strength of the team’s vision models to improve the simplicity and accuracy of the autonomous behaviors for both tasks. For its DFC, the team decided to use a ZED X Mini from StereoLabs for its small size, reliable coaxial connection, and the company’s unparalleled stereo camera performance.

A number of engineering challenges were faced while adding the DFC into the existing Talos hull. Most notably, the team needed to place the camera as close to the clear acrylic as possible to reduce the image distortion caused by the curved geometry of the hull. This was accomplished by integrating the DFC into Talos’ new sliding rail system (the red plastic, above).

While the new rails allowed the DFC to be mounted inside the hull and simplified inserting and removing the electronics cages, they presented the new challenge of the DFC being almost impossible to plug in. To amend this, the team designed a quick-connect system (bottom center, above) that uses spring compression to automatically form and maintain a reliable connection with the electronics cage; both the coaxial GSML2 that provides the DFC with a data and power connection, as well as the Molex-style cable that connects Talos’ two hulls, pass through this quick-connect mechanism.

Thank you to Alex Schuler and Morgan Birely for their diligent work to see this project through to completion.