North Bay will be well represented at the 16th annual International Robotics Sailing Regatta being held in Amesbury, Massachusetts from now til June 7.
Raymond Belec and his hand-made, two-metre-long boat will be competing in the regatta.
“Universities all around the world are allowed to enter their third-year and fourth-year university students. They’re allowed to build and enter a robotic boat into this regatta,” explained Belec.
“I’m in my fourth year of my Bachelor of Technology degree at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops British Columbia. This is my final year, and I had this opportunity to do this.”
The challenge is part of a project management course.
“What I’ve done is taken a project, and in six weeks built it out into a boat. So basically, six weeks ago, that was two pieces of cedar strip lumber, 10 feet long. I hand-built the whole thing into a boat,” Belec grinned.
“The boat is a fully autonomous robotic vessel that uses flight technology from a drone. So, this vessel’s flight deck was actually built for a tethered drone to extend Wi-Fi for a hunting camp. So, it is essentially drone technology that is put into a sailboat,” Belec explained.
The main component is the flight controller.
“It has a Pixhawk 32-bit core processor inside, so it is a massive computer in this little thing. And, it runs two telemetry radios. One goes to a handheld unit and the second telemetry radio plugs into a USB port on my computer and I can send commands to the boat through my computer,” explained Belec.
The boat was inexpensive to build.
“The beauty of this is the hull, is it cost $26 to build that hull. So many teams can get involved quickly. All I needed was a table saw and I made the mould to stretch all the boards along, but that mould is good for thousands of boats now.”
It all came together in his third-floor apartment.
Necessity often being the mother of invention, Belec reached into his kitchen cabinet and pulled out what became an integral part of his design.
“The Tupperware bowl is key to waterproofing all the electronics on board. I will put some holes in the lid to run some cables up through it, but then I will seal them up again. The bowl is inverted; it is upside down. All the electronics are mounted on the lid of the Tupperware bowl and the bowl goes upside down on top of it and the lid seals it. The race coordinator said Tupperware is absolutely the best.”
The Canadian Armed Forces veteran can draw from his many years working around larger boats.
“When I was 23, I was injured in the military. I broke my back, and they fused my spine back together. I got out of the military, and I worked for defence contractor MIL Davie Shipbuilding for about eight years after that, working on bigger autonomous robots.”
Belec worked on this project with some local injured veterans, teaching them sewing and painting techniques.
“These guys are not necessarily homeless, they’re couch surfers. One has issues with addiction, and the other is just having a hard time getting settled, so I’m just doing outreach. I’m a veteran’s service officer for the Legion, and have been for eight years, so I kind of have a passion for homeless veterans.”
Working long hours seven days a week, including pulling some all-nighters for the past six weeks, Belec is completely focused on the race.
“It is all about finishing the race, not necessarily winning it. We’re going against some really big Ivy League schools with deep pockets, but I’ve been running unmanned technology for 13 years.”
Competitors must follow a long list of rules.
“The trickiest rule is you have to verify that you can take control of your boat at any time. That is their main objective. If you are going to create a collision with one of these other boats, you have to be able to go to manual control and get it out of harm's way.”
Belec has changed up his racing sail, using much lighter material.
“So, we’re looking at a much faster boat. What we have to worry about is if the electronics can keep up to the speed of the boat. So, as the magnetometer is measuring the angle of the boat tilting, is the boat coming back faster than the magnetometer notices? These are things we’re going to have to figure out and all we have to do is put some lag in it so it's not reading it so quickly.”
High winds and choppy waters will either work for or against the contestants.
“In a 15-knot wind, the race gets cancelled. If the wind is less than 15 knots, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the fastest boat out there if I can control it and navigate it. One of the races I have to go between three-metre space between buoys, so I have to have my programming set so the boat comes right up between there.”
Belec is sailing in the two-metre category.
“But there is also a large boat open category. I believe Germany is bringing a much bigger boat than we have. I believe it is almost a ton in weight.”
Every day is a new race with a new challenge.
The eventual winner will have accumulated the most points at the end of the competition.
The winner is given the opportunity to host the event the following year.
“I believe the last two years it has been in Amesbury. Their high school team has been winning it, so that is pretty impressive. Before that, I believe it was in Germany, and Kingston Ontario a couple of times.”
Belec eventually wants to take his research further.
“I think what we’re doing here is pretty incredible. So, as we move forward, I would like to move away from GPS systems and into AI on board. I would like to sail the boat using stars, dead wrecking...everything a turn-of-the-century fisherman going from New England out to the grand banks of Newfoundland would use, because they had no technology. My idea is to teach AI how to sail that way. In the event we have no satellites in the future, we still have a way to navigate autonomously.”
One of his goals is to raise awareness.
“I really want to inspire younger people to join the military and learn the skills that I’ve developed to be able to do these types of things. “
The race is always top of mind.
“I feel stronger and better for doing this. I’m constantly running scenarios through my head. I think for me it is very healing. It gives me an opportunity to showcase what I can do and what I have learned. When we can introduce vets and students and university folks to more technology, I just think it could be better for all of us.”
Win or lose, the experience has been a positive one.
“Here’s to hoping we do well. I think we’re winning right now by actually building the boat and engaging with other injured veterans," Belec shared.
Wherever the outcome, he will look back without regret.
“A philosopher once said ‘The worst thing you can do with your big ideas is take them to your grave untested.’ I’ve always believed that philosophy,” Belec stated.
