Award in Blue Robotics' CAD contest

2023-05-05

In March 2023, Blue Robotics announced their “Make it Swim” CAD Contest, for designers of 3D components useful in marine robotics applications. Our (or mainly Gunnar’s 😉) contribution made it all the way to the top in the category “Most creative”. See Blue Robotics’ LinkedIn post here, announcing the results.

See the full submission at Printables.com here.

Our module locking system

After first mounting all our hardware and electronics on continuous rails along the entire length of the enclosure, we soon realized that it would be much more manageable to divide everything into separate modules. These would then interlock with each other using the bayonet principle. We used multiple pin connectors for power and signals while miniature hydraulic quick connectors were used for fluids (ballast water).

With the new MSS we wanted to build on our previous design and make the modules more accessible for others to use by making them fully 3d printable. We have improved the bayonet interlocking feature to make it more robust and reliable, and incorporated more features into the design.

Modules are great because they make team collaboration easy when the hardware can be distributed during development and testing. It also enables a high level of flexibility when being able to adapt the hardware within a system to various applications.

Again, checkout the full submission at Printables.com to get the full experience!