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9th Annual AUV Competition Results

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the below-the-water-line dept.

Sean.D.Matthews writes "This weekend the 9th Annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Competition was held in San Diego. This year, teams were challenged to complete three tasks including finding a docking station, dropping markers in marked bins along a pipeline, and surfacing in a recovery zone marked by an acoustic pinger. Teams from MIT, Cornell, Duke and eighteen others competed for the grand prize. After an intense final round, the University of Florida's Team SubjuGator walked away with the victory for a second year in a row. Interestingly, the UF team ran Windows XP embedded on SubjuGator's on-board computer."

7 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting? by NineNine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Interestingly, the UF team ran Windows XP embedded on SubjuGator's on-board computer."

    Could somebody please tell me why this is "interesting"?

    I'm kind of surprised that the article summary didn't read, "Interestingly, the UF team assembled the SubjuGator using Phillips head screws."

    1. Re:Interesting? by 0racle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because most or all of the other teams didn't use XP Embedded? Because XP Embedded is not what most people first think of for applications like this? Because this is Slashdot?

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  2. WindowsXP by ajs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, to be fair, I'm sure that the OS has little to do with the controls once they're done writing their own code, and I'm sure the same could be done with just about any OS at the "helm".

  3. XP vs. /. by vp0ng · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i find it interesting that only one intelligent comment has been made on this whole thread so far. the post about any OS being able to run the units. i know i'll be modded down as a troll, but there's no reason to be afraid of a windows bot winning 2 years in a row. yes, linux r0xx0rz and is uber, so take solace in that. the bot didnt blue screen, it didnt crash. it won. let's have some proper commentary maybe oh, i don't know, on the the technology, like this place is supposed to be discuss, rather than windows bashing every topic that mentions it in a positive way and turning slashdot more and more into a linux fanboy club. mod me down now.

    --
    (Futurama) Fry: "My folks were always on me to groom myself and wear underpants. What am I, the pope?"
  4. Go away by mnemonic_ · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Aren't you content with spamming by email? Go home and die.

  5. Re:Intellegent comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The challenge is in trying to bring all these resources together to accomplish the mission. While the Seacon's 1000psi connectors are overkill (for the max depth of the pond), it's not necessary for every team to need to design and build their own wetplugs. The carbon fiber is easier than you think when you share the building with mechanical engineers and machine shops.

    There is plenty of challenge as shown in the many competitions past and this one, as even with big name sponsors backing every team, the course is rarely fully completed.

    The AUVSI competitions are great because teams are able to handle everything from the physical design to the electrical layout to the AI used inside. In your suggestion, who would design this 'same platform'? By cementing the platform, you're severely limiting the creativity of the design and then you just have a boring programming competition. That's just my opinion though.

    The amount of money spent on building some of these robots is enormous, but considering that everything to complete a mission is done in-house, that says a lot for the team behind it. As for limits, I think you're thinking of a cost limit. This would make it even harder for teams to complete the mission. It's not like we're tweaking already known platforms (like the SAE Formula and Baja Buggy) here, we're trying to send an unmanned system into a difficult and hostile environment. Comparing it to Soapbox Derbying makes me think of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/paping/

  6. ETS... by lams · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This year again you tried to make a troll about Subjugator running windows... Could you look at all the effort that it take to build an AUV and giving more information on the event instead ? Well, I'm in SONIA the AUV team of the École de technologie supérieur. We finish on the podium with Duke and UF. It would have been nice if you would have mentioned it... instead of talking about MIT that finish fifth this year. One year of effort deserved some visibility. Anyway, nice work to all the teams that were there at this year competitions. To UF and Duke :) I'm pretty sure it was close ;) Good luck for the new development year that is beginning. Lams