Controller for 2026 Mate ROV Competition MBHS

This is a step by step design on my design process on making a Controller for my schools ROV for the 2026 MATE ROV competion. This design is also standing as my long term project for my engineering 2 class. This design starts off from the intital drawings and research to the final manufacting and completion of the project. And I will have pictures to reprosent each step of the way as well as explain the challenges

Tools

1. Lazer Cutter
2. Wood Glue
3. Screws

We started off working on the design by research the competition to see what component we would need to achieve the goals and score points. Luckily we already had an ROV Design we were going to use and build so I just had to research previous controller design and design my own. With our design I need to be able to move the ROV forward and back ,rotate it ,open and close the manipulator, and tilt the camera up and down. Our ROV design has an diagnal thruster design which I was trying to take into account when design how it moves but, luckily I wasn't the one who had to Code it. When research I found a few previous design we liked and I thought to use the layout of an Xbox controller because its well tested and fit in your hand well. So I used it diamentions and put the joysticks in similar postions and then put the potentiometers on the top so you can easliy turn them without putting the controller down. I also had to draw out the electrical wiring to make sure that I would have enough room on Arduino for this compact design and so I wouldn't have to resaughter it.,

After drawing the design I made a mock up with cardboard to try and find an optimal postioning for the tecnical parts allowing for them to be connected nicely just in case we need to repair anything the day on the compeotion day. This worked out well, I was just trying to figure out how to place the converter into the controller and all of the arudio parts togehter.

After Completing the prototype I made the design in fusion 360. Orginally we were going to add more button to the design on the front plate so I added to 2 more circle holes in the front. The plan was to be able to remove the back of the controller so we could access the parts inside with came with its struggles because we were trying to design a pin design.And then we realized we could just use screws to hold it togehter. After I got that all settled I measured the size of the potieomters to make sure they could fit in the hole. Then we 3d printed it. Turns out the holes werent printed perfectly so not all the buttons fit and we were still struggling with the screw design so my engineering teacher suggested to use maker case.

With this suggestion we designed the new controller with the orignal 2 holes on top for potentiometers, and 2 slots for the joysticks. We also decided to make only one port hole for the cord because after looking at the electrical drawing to help us map out the electronic we realized we only needed