ARLINGTON, Va. —
Teams of students from 13 schools representing six countries tested their engineering skills by deploying autonomous boats during the 11th annual International RoboBoat Competition, held June 18-24 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation, RoboBoat is an annual robotics contest in which the next generation of engineers puts autonomous surface vehicles through a series of advanced water-based challenges that mirror real-world maritime operations.
“The challenges might seem simplistic, but before the boats even make it to the water to try and complete the course, there's a lot complex engineering that goes into the ASVs' development,” said Kelly Cooper, a program officer in ONR's Ship Systems and Engineering Research Division and a RoboBoat judge. “This competition really showcases the technical ingenuity of the students.”
Transforming Logistics, Warfare
That ingenuity will be needed as the desire for autonomous systems continues to grow — not only for the naval service, but across the commercial sector, as companies such as Dominos, Amazon and Uber all want to use autonomous vehicles for deliveries.
And while these companies are making strides toward autonomous services for the average consumer, the Navy is looking to use…
