Skip to content

What is MARLIN?​

MARLIN is a maritime robotics platform developed by PolyMate in Singapore. It consists of:

  • MARLIN Robot Parts

    Robot Brain, Controller, thrusters, servos, sensors and floats: the hardware you build into a robot that works on the water.

  • MARLIN Coding Suite

    The VS Code extension and the marlin Python API, for writing, running and driving your robot's programs from a laptop.

  • Competitive Events

    Matches where teams put their robots in the pool, with autonomous and driver-controlled play under the season's game rules.

The pieces of the system​

Your Program

Your Robot Program is written in the Python programming language, and uses the MARLIN API.

Laptop

Your laptop executes your program, and runs the MARLIN Control Station.

MARLIN Controller

The MARLIN Controller acts as a bridge between your program and your MARLIN Robot. It combines your driver inputs and program behaviour, all over a wireless link.

MARLIN Robot Brain

The MARLIN Robot Brain is the heart of your robot. It connects to your Controller over Bluetooth, and manages your robot's motors and sensors.

That is the whole system. The rest of this section walks it end to end: build the robot, set up the laptop, connect the two, and make it move.

Next: Overview of the Starter Kit in Kit Intro.