Olin Aquatic Robotic Systems
[OARS]
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Olin Aquatic Robotic Systems, or OARS, is one of the oldest project teams at Olin College and is focused on creating intelligent autonomous marine vessels. I have been a member of OARS since my first week at Olin and the co-Project Manager of OARS since fall 2017. One of OARS's original goals was to build a boat that could autonomously sail across the entire Atlantic Ocean, a feat that no one has ever accomplished. As a member of the new leadership team, we decided to refocus the team back to this original goal after a participating in competitions for a few years.
To start making progress toward this goal, I spearheaded the creation of a five-year plan that would allow the team to incrementally build up to the massive goal of autonomous transatlantic sailing. Currently in Year 1, we're close to achieving our first milestone of autonomously sailing across Lake Waban on the Wellesley campus. Next year, we plan on scaling up to sailing across a segment of the Boston Harbor. From there, we plan to increase both the length and the treacherousness of our routes each year as we improve our both our construction and our algorithms. |
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Some of my roles as a project manager have been dealing with the logistics of running such a team—everything from finding sponsors and purchasing materials to planning water tests. Our team operates in two-week sprints, at the end of which the leadership team engage everyone in a "sprint retro" where we reflect on what went well and what could have gone better. In addition to my leadership responsibilities, I have maintained my interest in working with the mechanical subteam as we design, manufacture, and assemble our boat for this year. My experience as a member of OARS's mechanical team has exercised my skills in high-level design, CAD in SolidWorks, laser cutting, carbon-fibering, assembly, and testing and analysis.
Moving forward, our yearly goals will get increasingly more ambitious, and we hope that our team will continue to grow with it. I'm incredibly proud to be a part of a team that has such amazing and dedicated people on it, and one that I have helped to steer in a positive direction by starting on a project that will continue long after I graduate. I'm very excited to see what the future holds for OARS.
To keep up to date with OARS, you can follow our blog or visit our website.
Watch Part 1 of the OARS Documentary below:
Moving forward, our yearly goals will get increasingly more ambitious, and we hope that our team will continue to grow with it. I'm incredibly proud to be a part of a team that has such amazing and dedicated people on it, and one that I have helped to steer in a positive direction by starting on a project that will continue long after I graduate. I'm very excited to see what the future holds for OARS.
To keep up to date with OARS, you can follow our blog or visit our website.
Watch Part 1 of the OARS Documentary below: