Project Summary | Project Information |
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The purpose of this project is to create a device that can both walk on land and swim through water. The project is based off previous RIT projects, specifically the Robo-ant and Robo-fish. Essentially this project is meant to combine the two projects to create an amphibious robot otter. Few amphibious robots today tend to have full integration between terrestrial and aquatic locomotion, as is the case with biological organisms capable of amphibious ambulation. Furthermore, these tend to lack agility and flexibility, and can thus not perform complex maneuvers while moving. One robot which does achieve pseudo-biological performance in this way is the “Pleurobot”, a research platform designed to mimic the physiological behavior of a salamander, however this only has planar freedom of motion while swimming. The goal of this project is to design an amphibious robot which can mimic the movements of otters both in and out of water. The final product should be able to swim at the surface of water, walk on land, and transition between land and water. The expected result is a functional prototype with systems that can ultimately be used in other devices for military, investigation, and research purposes in the future. |
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Team Members

From Left to Right: Ethan Marsh, Vaughn Varma, Corry Straathof, Amanda Lundstedt, Tiffany Hsu, Curt Monkhouse
Member | Major | Role | Contact |
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Amanda L. Lundstedt | Mechanical Engineer | Project Manager | all6258@rit.edu |
Ethan D. Marsh | Mechanical Engineer | Engineer | edm8929@rit.edu |
Tzu-Ting (Tiffany) Hsu | Mechanical Engineer | CAD/Customer POC | txh7683@rit.edu |
Corry Straathof | Mechanical Engineer | Engineer | cjs8225@rit.edu |
Curt Monkhouse | Mechanical Engineer | Purchasing Engineer | cem6724@rit.edu |
Vaughn Varma | Mechanical Engineer | Lead Engineer | vxv9344@rit.edu |
Work Breakdown: By Phase
MSD I & II | MSD I | MSD II |
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Integrated System Build & Test Customer Handoff & Final Project Documentation (Verification & Validation) |
Work Breakdown: By Topic
Use this space to link to live/final documents throughout the project. Your team should customize this as-needed, with input from your guide and customer. The example below will address most of what most teams need to capture.
Project Management | Design Tools | Design Documentation | Implementation | Validation | Presentation & Dissemination |
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PRP Requirements Schedule Cost Risk Management Problem Management Communication & Minutes |
Use Cases Benchmarking Functional Decomposition Morphological Chart Pugh Concept Selection |
BOM Mechanical Drawings Electrical Schematics Software Diagrams Facility Layout Manuals |
Mockups Test Fixtures Prototyping Test Plans |
Analysis Results Simulations Test Results |
Design Review Documents Technical Paper Poster Imagine RIT Exhibit |
Acknowledgements
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