A WEE PORTFOLIO
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  • Post-Olin ('15-Present)
    • Argo AI
    • Carnegie Robotics, LLC (CRL)
    • WPI MS in RoboE >
      • Capstone
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      • Robot Controls
      • Concepts of SysE
      • Software System Design
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      • ETR 500: Travelers
    • Helping further STEM Education
    • Traveling through Southeast Asia
    • Ocean Alliance: Conservation Tech for Whales
  • Olin
    • WALL-E
    • Senior Year ('13-14) >
      • NREIP Internship at SSC Pacific Unmanned Systems Group
      • A Tetris-Playing Robot Arm
      • Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE)
      • Controls
      • Design for Manufacture
      • Research at Olin Summer 2014
      • Computational Robotics
      • Jazz Theory
      • My Experience as a PoE Ninja
    • Junior Year ('12-13) >
      • C-2 Innovations, Inc (C-2i)
      • SnotBot
      • Mechanical Design
      • Archaeology (ANTH 60A)
      • Principles of Engineering
      • Robo 2
      • Making Food From Scratch: A Passionate Pursuit
    • Sophomore Year ('11-12) >
      • My semester at USC
      • SailBot
      • Voith-Schneider Propeller (VSP)
    • Freshman Year ('10-11) >
      • Modeling and Simulation
      • Design Nature
      • Materials Science
      • Real World Measurements
      • FBE
  • Publications
  • Art

Voith-Schneider Propellers

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The Voith-Schneider propeller is made by Graupner and is based on the actual propellers made by Voith that you can find on boats all around the world. Each blade can rotate itself around a vertical axis. The internal linkages (gears on the actual propeller) change the angle of attack of the blades in sync with the rotation of the plate, such that each blade can provide thrust in any direction, similar to the collective and cyclic thrust of helicopters. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voith_Schneider_Propeller)

Phase one of this project involved mounting two VSPs on a boogie board and developing the control interface between a laptop and an Arduino.  Although we weren't able to reach autonomy, we were still able to control the vehicle with a R/C controller by the end of spring 2012.  WE submitted an abstract to the 2012 OCEANS MTS/IEEE conference and it was accepted into the Technical Program.  However due to logistical difficulties (the system and it's makers were separated by 3000 miles), we will not be participating.

The goal for phase two is to make it an autonomous vehicle and understand the physical characteristics of the way the vehicle handles in the water. If this is successful, we will work towards building an "underwater hamster ball" with two propellers offset at a 30 degree angle.  This is still a conceptual idea but would allow us to have full 360 degree rotation under the water.

Prototype 1 on a Boogie Board

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With the help of some methacrylate and a waterproof polycarbonate box, we were able to mount the propellers and servos in our attempt to properly map the servo throws to our RC flight controller.

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Supplies from various stores, just in case we wanted to make multiple iterations quickly.
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The freshly cut polycarbonate box, before all the guts were put in
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Our earliest prototype. We were hoping that fiberglassing our paper mache "hemisphere" would make an ideal hull...

Driving the VSP Vehicle SP 2012

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  • Home
  • About Me
  • Post-Olin ('15-Present)
    • Argo AI
    • Carnegie Robotics, LLC (CRL)
    • WPI MS in RoboE >
      • Capstone
      • Robot Dynamics
      • Robot Controls
      • Concepts of SysE
      • Software System Design
      • Ethics
      • ETR 500: Travelers
    • Helping further STEM Education
    • Traveling through Southeast Asia
    • Ocean Alliance: Conservation Tech for Whales
  • Olin
    • WALL-E
    • Senior Year ('13-14) >
      • NREIP Internship at SSC Pacific Unmanned Systems Group
      • A Tetris-Playing Robot Arm
      • Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE)
      • Controls
      • Design for Manufacture
      • Research at Olin Summer 2014
      • Computational Robotics
      • Jazz Theory
      • My Experience as a PoE Ninja
    • Junior Year ('12-13) >
      • C-2 Innovations, Inc (C-2i)
      • SnotBot
      • Mechanical Design
      • Archaeology (ANTH 60A)
      • Principles of Engineering
      • Robo 2
      • Making Food From Scratch: A Passionate Pursuit
    • Sophomore Year ('11-12) >
      • My semester at USC
      • SailBot
      • Voith-Schneider Propeller (VSP)
    • Freshman Year ('10-11) >
      • Modeling and Simulation
      • Design Nature
      • Materials Science
      • Real World Measurements
      • FBE
  • Publications
  • Art