Each summer, USNA sends a team to compete in the AUVSI RoboSub (robotic submarine) competition in San Diego California. The team consists of firsties who do this as their capstone design project, and underclass who do it because it’s cool. The international field of competitors consists of high schoolers, undergrads, and graduate students from 20-30 schools in countries including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, India, and Iceland. The competition consists of static judging, as well as in-water performance versus a variety of underwater objectives such as navigation, picking stuff up, dropping on or shooting at targets, and precision surfacing; all of which must be done completely autonomously (no human involvement).
This year USNA finished 2nd out of 21 schools, and collected a $5000 cash prize, on the strengths of their navigational skills, ability to dive and drive, and careful preparations. You can find more information about our 2011 campaign at robosub.org and at navyauv.esmartdesign.com , or by contacting CAPT Nicholson.
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