🎉 Brave Puffin is back! (2024)

Launching in 2025! 🚀

Lots of new features to cover in the upcoming build posts. It’s all about tradeoffs:

Power management “on the curve”

How big should the solar panel be vs. the battery? How do you balance out variable solar power vs. spending it on propulsion vs. stored energy?

Custom made electronics enclosure, connectors

Is there something on the market? Can you 3D print a robust, waterproof enclosure supporting multiple connectors and not have it leak after N months at sea?

Hull design & construction

Catamaran? Monohull? Which shape and size? Optimizing design for ease of construction, cost, rigidity, weight, drag, stability and so on.

Thrusters, motors, propellers, efficiency

Most motors don’t do well in salt water. Do you keep it enclosed and deliver power through a sealed shaft? Magnetic coupling? Or immerse in water and deal with side effects? Tradeoffs again between cost, complexity, efficiency and durability.

Integrated testing

A million things can go wrong on a multi-month long, autonomous mission. Some will show in component (unit) testing, but many won’t. Short or dry runs are not enough either. How do you optimize the testing strategy?

…and more.

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