UPenn Senior Engineering Capstone Project

[challengerjdb]

Hello,

I'm a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying engineering. For my final year of school, I'm on a team of students that will complete a capstone project. We are interested in using technology to make the anchoring process better. We have 3 mechanical engineers, 1 software engineer, and 1 electrical engineer.

We are currently in the brainstorming phase of our project. We have some ideas and would like to talk to experts on anchoring to hear what they think of them. Please reach out to jbendell@seas.upenn.edu if you think you can help.

Thank you
Jacob Bendell

 

[dlochner]

Interesting idea.

You might want to reach out to @thinwater He wrote a book on anchoring.

 

[tfox2069]

Not to throw cold water on this - it may be totally legit - but a few years ago I heard the very same thing: A capstone project for college students interested in anchoring improvement via technology and the gist was they were pitching putting a camera on a boat to help out with the anchoring process for boaters. I also kind of got the impression it was really a commercial project, and not one being done by actual college students. Either this is a different capstone project on anchoring technology - which is interesting in and of itself - or its the same project which makes me wonder how long do these capstone projects go on? I'd think the PhD candidate would be well and truly done by now.

By that's just cynical old me. Happy to be completely wrong.

 

[challengerjdb]

Thank you @dlochner! I'll reach out to @thinwater

@tfox2069 We are a different project. Have not heard of that team. If you are able to find out who they were/what they did please let me know. I know of a start-up called Vision Anchor that is making a product that uses a camera as well. We are hoping to create a system that does not use a camera, so it can work in all visibility conditions.

 

[dlochner]

You might find the work done by SV Panope helpful.

SV Panope

www.youtube.com

 

[dLj]

In order to provide useful input, I would need a lot more details about what you are doing, what your resources are (not just education titles) and what time frame you have to work on the project.

dj

 

[shemandr]

Uh oh! Jacob said anchor. This website has a long history of threads concerning anchoring, anchors, rodes, philosophy of anchoring, history of anchoring and on. OP should search and read a few of those threads (I'm not mean enough to say all). Also on the site is access to respected contributor Mainesail's videos. One of which is a actual test of various anchors.
Among other ideas it would be useful for more secure anchoring if: 1). The anchor could be imaged on the bottom so that the operator could see how it has set. 2). The type of bottom could be assessed prior to dropping the anchor. 3). Obstructions on the bottom could be detected (Electric cables, junk, rocks) prior to anchoring. 4). We could choose a position in relation to already anchored boats based on a more reliable method than judgement. I could imagine a system which would locate the boats at anchor, assess their range of motion around their anchors, integrate that information with the anchoring boat's position and anchoring system to pick the best spot available (Being careful to not pick the perfect spot which doesn't exist). 5). Integrate predicted weather with the boat's position in relation to geographical features.
In short, everything a skipper does while anchoring.

 

[tfox2069]

Thank you @dlochner! I'll reach out to @thinwater

@tfox2069 We are a different project. Have not heard of that team. If you are able to find out who they were/what they did please let me know. I know of a start-up called Vision Anchor that is making a product that uses a camera as well. We are hoping to create a system that does not use a camera, so it can work in all visibility conditions.

Thanks for the clarification @challengerjdb . Good luck with your project. This place is a great resource.