Pescabot #1: Functionality ideas

One of our robot project for the 2015 summer is Pescabot, an autonomous seagoing fishing robot.

Pescabot will be placed on the seashore with a pre-loaded set of GPS waypoints to fish in and a time limit. Pescabot will cast a line on each of the waypoints and wait for a fish to pull the line, catching it. Once a fish has been caught, it will be reeled in and brought back to the seashore (same location where it entered the water) - if no fish is caught after a time limit (or if the battery is running out) Pescabot will go back to the seashore.

We will iteratively implement the following key functionalities:

1. The boat can be controlled remotely
2. The boat can transmit location back to the base station over up to 2km
3. The boat can navigate automatically using GPS to a set of waypoints and back to the start
4. The boat can reel out and back in when a fish pulls the line
5. The boat can cut the line in an emergency

Nice ideas to consider in the future:

1. Batteries can be recharged using solar panels