Final thoughts

The Harvey Mudd ICEX team (Chris, Alistair, Joshua, Ben and I) wrapped up our trip and are now stateside. Minus a couple pieces of luggage, we made it back in the middle of the night and in time for Chris' autonomous robot navigation class.

The Maltese coastline alongside Valletta

All in all, this trip has a great experience - this includes learning about the rich history of Syracuse and Malta, having the opportunity to access private properties and catacombs to conduct research, and the chance to play the many roles needed in each deployment. To run a deployment and document our work, the team needs someone on the log books, the ROV tether, driving the ROV and collecting sonar data. Here are some great shots Zoe got from our last HMC-Cal Poly deployment in Valletta -

Vanessa and I on tether.

Driving the ROV and collecting data
during a deployment.

It wasn't hailing this time, and on these last few deployments we got some great data from 3D sonar data of some really intricate cisterns and deploying both ROVs!

Our 3D sonar set up on the ROV :)

Now that the cistern data collection has ended for us, our next steps are to map and localize the ROV using this information, and we also hope to work with younger students in Southern California to inspire the next generation of computer scientists and engineers with our work and outreach efforts.

The complete ICEX team, and our gracious dinner host.

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to be a part of this project. I want to thank the Cal Poly students for their work all month and getting us on board during our time in Malta/Sicily, our advisors (Jane, Zoe and Chris) for their guidance and great company, Timmy for enriching our trip by putting our work in a cultural and international context, and my teammates for pretty much everything. I wish the Cal Poly team luck in the rest of their work this coming week in Malta :)