Post Deployment Operations

Once finished with your trial, power off the robot using the magnetic switch before exiting the water. It is recommended that you wait to offload data until you have the robot dried off and in a secure location.

Once the robot is powered off, remove the robot from the water and perform a visual leakage check. Do not open the robot up yet. Dry it off and look for any obvious signs of leakage such as the MDF being wet, humidity or water in the tube, or if the desiccant has changed color. Once you have made any notes, rinse the robot thoroughly with fresh, unchlorinated water.

After rinsing the robot with fresh water, dry the robot and check again for signs of leakage. Be careful not to smudge or scratch the front face of the robot. Smudges you may have an easier time cleaning if you catch them before they show up on your next trial’s video feed, but scratches will lead to a replaced tube if you want them not to show up in the camera view. Be sure to dry thoroughly, drying the thrusters and areas around the rear seals to avoid water entering the tubes when you open the AUV. Seriously, if you think you have it dry enough you’re wrong. Go back and dry it again. The 3D printed parts have the tendency to hold onto water. Place towels underneath and around them while deconstructing the robot to ensure no water gets into the robot. It will take a couple of hours for all the water to leak out of the 3D parts, so keep towels underneath/around them to absorb any water.

Once you are confident you have dried LoCO to the best of your ability, release the vents. Expect some level of air to enter since you had previously pulled a vacuum inside of the robot. If you hear a lot of noise entering the robot when you release the seal this is good! It likely means you got a strong vacuum seal before deploying the robot. This is good to note. If you found that water leaked into the robot during your trial and heard no air upon release of the vents, something was not sealed properly and you can start looking for the root cause.

Transport LoCO back to your lab or ground station. If the trip is long, remove the battery beaks, disconnect, and remove the batteries. Once back to your home base, open LoCO up and continue to allow LoCO to dry. Remove the desiccant and save for another trial if it is still good. Make sure you have towels underneath the 3D printed parts and that the batteries are removed. Feel free to remove any trial data from LoCO at this point. Always remove the batteries before storage.