A Note On Names - Offset-official/Nautilus-One GitHub Wiki

This page contains a few brief notes and explanations about names used for the LoCO-AUV, and for components of the robot. Hopefully, it clears up any confusion you may experience.

LoCO-AUV

Meaning of LoCO

The name LoCO-AUV is an acronym of sorts, standing for Low-Cost, Open Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. The first portion of the name describes the design goals of the LoCO team, while the second part of the name describes the type of robot LoCO is.

  • Low-Cost: LoCO has been built with off-the-shelf and 3D printed parts, parts which were selected in designed with cost-effectiveness in mind in an attempt to create an AUV which is within the smaller budgets of groups besides nationally-funded research institutions.

  • Open: LoCO's software is largely open-source, the design of the robot as well as assembly instructions are being fully released (in the wiki you are currently reading), and we intend to keep every aspect of LoCO as open and available to the public as reasonably possible.

  • Autonomous: LoCO's autonomy is currently limited to untethered swimming maneuvers, diver following, and data collection, triggered by human-interaction control systems. We hope to bring LoCO even more autonomous behaviors in the future, increasing its capabilities and independencee.

  • Underwater Vehicle: LoCO is, obviously, a robot designed for underwater operations. The parts used should be operable down to nearly 100 meters of water depth, and we are excited to see all of the exciting places that LoCO gets to.

Ways to Write LoCO-AUV

The appropriate spelling of the name is LoCO-AUV. We often refer to the robot informally as LoCO, loco, or LOCO, and these spellings may be seen through the documentation. When writing about the robot formally, please use the appropriate spelling, and refer to the robot either as LoCO-AUV or LoCO. When developing a ROS package for use specifically on the robot, use the naming convention loco_*. For example, a package for adding support for use of a robotic arm could be named loco_arm or loco_<name of arm>

Past Names

LoCO was previously known during development as MiniBot and Edgebot. The initial version of the LoCO codebase used the name Minibot and mini_* package naming. If you find any stale references to these names, please submit a pull request fixing it, or submit an issue to notify us.

Watertight Enclosures

LoCO is built around two acrylic watertight enclosures from BlueRobotics. These are properly referred to as "enclosures" or "watertight enclosures" but are often informally referred to as "tubes".

Right vs. Left

When we refer to right and left in terms of LoCO (particularly in terms of the enclosures), we think of the directions based on a view from behind the robot. If one were holding the robot from behind, by the rear thrusters, the enclosure containing the Jetson TX2 would be on the right-hand side, so we consider that the right enclosure. The other enclosure is the left enclosure, and in general when directions are used in relation to LoCO, they are from this viewpoint.

Computers Used in LoCO

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi used for LoCO's control software and left enclosure sensor interfacing is typically referred to as the Pi, Pi4, RPI, or Raspberry Pi. If you use another board, please remember that references to the RPI merely refer to the electronic component used in the left enclosure.

Nvidia Jetson TX2

The Nvidia Jetson TX2 used for deep learning inference and right enclosure sensor interfacing is typically referred to as the Jetson, TX2, or Jetson TX2. If you use another board, please remember that references to the TX2 merely refer to the electronic component used in the right enclosure.