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Cornell AUV Swims to First Place Finish

Cornell University's Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) outperformed 11 other entries to take first place in the 6th International AUV Competition, August 7-10, 2003, in San Diego. For their efforts, the Cornell team walked away with $7,000 in prize money.

Following an unusually tight series of qualifying runs, Cornell and six other teams advanced to the finals of the annual Competition sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the U.S. Office of Naval Research. During the finals, however, Cornell's AUV distinguished itself from the field and conducted a nearly flawless run of the competition course. The quality of the finals run, and the team's performance in the other scored components of the event combined to deliver the University's first top finish in the event.

The Competition requires teams of students, most from colleges but with two teams including high school students, to design, build and implement an AUV to perform a mission. In addition, the teams must create a website for their project, write a journal-type paper, and defend their approach to a panel of industry experts. They earn points for each step of the event but the performance in-water is the most significant component.

This year's event required the vehicles to swim under a submerged gate, locate a lighted arrow on the floor of the pond and swim in the direction of that arrow to locate a "target" - a series of three platforms stacked on each other. The vehicle was ultimately to drop a marker on the platform.

This year's event was held at the TRANSDEC Facility, part of the U.S. Navy's SPAWAR Systems Center in San Diego, California. The facility provided a clear body of water with good viewing of the vehicles, and its location on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean afforded entrants and spectators a constant breeze and spectacular view.

Sponsors for the event included SPAWAR Systems Center - San Diego, Naval Undersea Warfare Center - Newport, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, TAMSCO and AUVSI's Lindbergh Chapter.