A Florida Atlantic University senior-design prototype from 2022–2023, exploring visual tracking and embedded control for an Astrobee cargo berth.
This Florida Atlantic University senior-design project explored a cargo berth for NASA's Astrobee platform. The lead-development work connected visual marker tracking, an ESP32-controlled electromagnetic fixture, and TCP/IP communication. The project poster documents a working prototype and simulation, with space-station cargo handling as the intended application.
The prototype was presented at FAU's Spring 2023 Senior Design Showcase. The poster, hardware photographs, tracking view, and showcase images document the work and its university-project context.
The proposed cargo berth needed a way to locate a tagged bag, align with it, and control the magnet. Visual tracking, fixture behavior, and communication had to form one understandable workflow.
Space-station cargo handling was the intended application. The documented work covers the university prototype and simulation.
Vision Layer (Python / OpenCV)
├── Live camera feed ingestion
├── ArUco & AprilTag detection
├── Position coordinates
└── Cargo ID + orientation output
│
│ TCP/IP socket
▼
State Machine Controller
├── Command queuing
├── Fixture state transitions
└── System state management
│
▼
ESP32 Embedded Firmware (C++)
├── Electromagnetic actuation
├── Magnet and sleep commands
├── Active and idle states
└── Host and fixture coordinationA Python and OpenCV workflow tracks visible markers and produces position information for the prototype. This connects the camera input to the cargo berth control path.
C++ firmware on an ESP32 controls the electromagnetic fixture and its operating states, including magnet and sleep commands.
A TCP/IP host-and-client connection carries tracking information and commands between the computer-vision program and the fixture.
The state controller coordinates tracking, alignment, and fixture commands. The documented states make the prototype workflow easier to test and review.
Project Decision Notes
This project is technical, but the useful lesson is straightforward: complex work has to be broken into pieces that can be tested, explained, and handed off.
Engineering decision
The prototype needed planning, testing, and documentation before it could become review-ready.
Business reason: That same discipline applies to business websites and custom apps and workflow tools: define the workflow, test the important pieces, and make the next step clear.
Reliability decision
Visible markers made cargo tracking more predictable. For a prototype where precise docking mattered, reliability was more important than a more flexible but less certain approach.
Handoff decision
A technical project is not useful if nobody can understand what was built, how it works, or what comes next.
The implementation stayed focused on the constraints that mattered most: tracking cargo, coordinating hardware behavior, communicating between layers, and making the prototype understandable for review. Extra complexity would not have helped if the core workflow was harder to test or explain.
Developed through Florida Atlantic University's Senior Design program with NASA's Astrobee team. The project poster identifies NASA as the sponsor and records the Spring 2023 showcase.
The practical value was a maintainable technical foundation: separate layers for vision, state control, and embedded actuation, with enough structure to test the important pieces and explain the handoff between system parts.
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