The Design and Development of an Affordable Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Estuary Research and STEM Education

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) have been under significant development over the last twenty years. They have been used in a wide range of applications in oceanography and estuary environmental assessment. At the University of Rhode Island, we are developing a USV called Leo that stands for low-cost estuary open-source. The USV was constructed with commercial-off-the-shelf components with a total cost of under $3,000. The main application of Leo is assessing and monitoring the freshwater pond water quality and bottom sediment. In this paper, we will present the overall design and development of Leo and present preliminary field testing results in a freshwater pond.