This project is now in update mode. Check back regularly to see how things are progressing.
CU Sail - Cornell's Autonomous Sailboat Team
Check out CU Sail's official website here!
CU Who?
CU Sail is an undergraduate-run engineering project team that offers practical experience to students of all majors. The team offers an engineering experience that emphasizes iterative design and finding unique solutions to big problems. The goal of our project is to design and manufacture a small, inexpensive, and mass-producible autonomous robotic sailboat that can intelligently navigate any body of water and collect data. We call this boat Sail-Vane. Sail-Vane is meant to decrease environmental research and acoustic marine mammal monitoring costs by designing a research vessel that can cheaply collect data such as salinity, turbidity, fluorescence, or acoustic patterns.
Our Journey to the Top
As a newly accepted project team we are excited for our opportunity to grow and represent Cornell on the world stage. We use competitions as both objectives for our team to strive towards and a refinement process for our boat, learning from other teams and the performance of our own boat to improve our sailboat drone's design, manufacturing, and performance. In September of 2016 we attended the World Robotic Sailing Competition in Portugal, presenting a paper on our unique Sail-Vane design. We will be competing in our first competition, the International Robotic Sailing Regatta, in Spring of 2017. We are optimistic that with the generous support from you and hard work that we can become the best robotic sailboat under 1 meter in the world.
Your Contribution
CU Sail relies on the generous support of its donors. With access to new resources, in large part provided by your gifts, we believe our team is in a position to become a key player in the robotic sailing community. Our goal of $5,000 will go toward manufacturing a brand new sailboat, Sail-Vane 2. All elements of Sail-Vane will be redesigned to increase robustness and efficiency.
Stay Connected
Also follow us on Instagram @CUSAIL for pictures of our journey to the top of robotic sailing.
$10
Floaties
Your gift of $10 dollars allows CU Sail to purchase a 1 inch x 1 inch, 2 layered, printed circuit. These custom circuit boards allow us to read sensor data.
$20
Castaway Raft
WILSON! Your gift of $20 dollars allows CU Sail to purchase a roll of Monokote plastic used to cover the sail and taivane assemblies.
$50
Dinghy
Your gift of $50 dollars allows CU Sail to purchase a servo motor used to power both the sail and tailvane.
$100
Jetski
Your gift of $100 dollars allows CU Sail to purchase a remote servo control system.
$200
Speedboat
Your gift of $200 dollars allows CU Sail to register for the International Robotic Sailing Regatta.
$500
Yacht
Your gift of $500 dollars allows CU Sail to purchase all raw materials or electronics needed to build a Sailvane prototype.
$1,000
Cruiseship
Your gift of $1,000 dollars allows one CU Sail member to travel to our competitions.