Introduction

Almost a year and a half ago (October of 2009) I decided that I wanted to try to build a robot in my limited spare time. Having several technically minded friends, I decided to get some people to try to make a group project out of it. Several of my friends had varying levels of interest in the project, and we worked together to brainstorm robot ideas. We narrowed the options down and ended up deciding on a robotic sailboat that could go long distances on its own using GPS for navigation.

Over the late fall we came up with a rough design and gameplan that allowed us to purchase some electronic components and a radio-controlled sailboat kit. During the early months of 2010, the sailboat kit was put together and completed as a radio-controlled version. The maiden voyage was in May of 2010. Here is a picture of it that day.

Unfortunately, interest in the project slowly waned, and very little work was done on it after it sailed. The current status is that the majority of the mechanical work is completed (it does sail after all), but the majority of the electronics and programming still needs to be completed.
I've decided that I'm going to try to start working on it again. I'm hoping to put in 4 hours a week on the project. That doesn't seem like a lot, but I suspect I'll have difficulty setting aside even that little time for the project. Its not that I don't want to work on it, its just that I have a lot of other things I should be doing, and when I'm not doing them, I'd like to have some time to relax and do nothing. I'm going to try to work on it each Sunday and Wednesday evening.

So I started to write down a few things in a journal for the robot, and I realized that I could just write it down online and make a blog about it. I figure that this will motivate me to keep doing work, and will let people see what progress is or isn't being made.