SP0336: McGill Robotics Sustainability Transition

Motivation: Inspire students to join McGill’s sustainability culture movement by being visible sustainability leaders and supporters in the field of technological innovation.

Core Objectives:

1. Build two versatile and robust robots (one drone and one AUV) that can be used in different environmental monitoring research projects, educational programs/workshops and competitions, without having to be completely redesigned or rebuilt to fit each researcher's needs.
2. Both robots should be able to map terrains, monitor animal movement and temperature.
3. Test our robots and represent McGill's sustainability movement at international robotics competitions, and gain troubleshooting experience.
4. Inspire students via events, summer school visits and workshops that showcase our robots’ impact and our vision towards a more sustainable future supported by robotics.
5. Collaborate with professors and researchers to test the performance of our robots

Our current AUV (underwater autonomous vehicle) and our drone are not equipped with any environmental monitoring sensors. We have built prototypes for both robots but only the AUV prototype has been put to test at McGill’s pool. It has shown positive results in regards to its operating software and buoyancy. For these projects to go past the prototype phase, we need seed-funding support. Until now, we have been working with very old electronics (some of them 8-10 years old) and trying to make the most with what we have available at our workshop.

Sustainability implications: For sustainability reasons, the goal is to avoid building a different robot for every specific application, instead we want to build two solid versatile robots that will be able to take on multiple needs. Given that terrain and animal movement monitoring usually require a helicopter, drones reduce the amount of gasoline needed during data collection. These robots will be able to provide long hours of constant and reliable surveillance and support multiple researchers reducing their need to buy drones in the long-term.

Events like our annual hackathon are the perfect place to foster and grow a culture for sustainability. This year, it was a massive 200-person event, based around SDGs it challenged students to build robots for sustainability applications.

After 1 year: After testing our robots’ capabilities thoroughly with the help of research and industry experts (see letters of support), we will be able to confidently support research projects