The Mechatronics Club participated for the 2nd time in the 18th annual Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) RoboSub Competition. This year, there were 38 teams from around the world competing and running their Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) through the obstacle course at the SPAWAR Transdec Pool. The AUV is autonomous meaning there is no pilot; the vehicle can think for itself and make decisions based on the
environment around it. The competition lasts a total of 6 days. Mechatronics was able to qualify for semi-finals on the first day of the competition and qualified for finals on the 2nd day of semi-final rounds. During the finals, Mechatronics was against National University of Singapore, Maritime State University (Russia), California Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, Far Eastern Federal University (Russia), and Amador Valley High School. Mechatronics was able to accomplish many tasks in the obstacle course that consisted of going through the validation gate, hitting a buoy, going through a maneuvering event with style, dropping a marker into a bin, following 3 paths, and rising in an octagon to finish the run. Their Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), Defiance, was able to go through the course so quickly that we also achieved a time bonus which bumped up our score and allowed us to take 1st place and win the cash prize of $6000.00. This is the first time a team from San Diego has ever made it to the finals, or won first place in the 18 years this competition has taken place. We are so thankful for all the support that helped us reach this amazing accomplishment. With this type of technology available, it will allow engineers and scientists to map the terrains of unexplored regions of lakes and oceans, search and safely disarm mines in the water, or collect data of various oceanic properties over the course of weather changes and time. Here are how the finalists placed:
1st Place: San Diego State University, $6,000
2nd Place: National University of Singapore, $4,000
3rd Place: Maritime State University, $3,000
4th Place: California Institute of Technology, $1,000
5th Place: University of Arizona: $1,000
6th Place: Far Eastern Federal University, $1,000
7th Place: Amador Valley High School, $1,000
A list of all the teams that competed can be found on the AUVSI RoboSub website.
For more information and to get involved with Mechatronics, their website can be found at http://www.sdsumechatronics.org Mechatronics is in great need of computer scientists so if you are at all interested in working on something like this check them out!
