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18th Annual International RoboSub Competition Happening Now In San Diego

Posted by samzenpus on from the sign-up dept.

New submitter madsci1016 writes: The 18th Annual International RoboSub Competition is happening this week at the TRANSDEC Naval Testing facility in San Diego, California. 38 teams from around the world have built fully autonomous underwater robots designed to complete a gauntlet of underwater obstacles. No GPS here, advanced image processing and acoustic sensors are your only tools. The competition is open to the public from now until Sunday. A few pictures from the ongoing event can be found here.

6 comments

  1. Re:Submarines are for cows. by ciaran2014 · · Score: 2

    Good evening, User sexconker (1179573), you didn't to tick the "Post Anonymously" box earlier:

    http://news.slashdot.org/comme...

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    Help build the anti-software-patent wiki
  2. Smuggler's Rodeo by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    Autonomous subs.... what better way to smuggle? Expect in interesting audience.

    1. Re:Smuggler's Rodeo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smugglers use semi-submersibles because the GPS antennas/snorkels are nearly invisible to radar(even the Synthetic Aperture variant).

      Air-independent propulsion is expensive and the anonymity is lost when you rendezvous with the drone for the pick-up. Until the singularity: humans will almost certainly be at the helm of drug boats.

      These subs are for mine clearing. "Dull/Dirty/Dangerous."

      The audience is certainly interesting, but not for the reasons you're thinking.

      This competition is fairly prestigious due to it being one of the most difficult domains for unmanned systems.
      Alumni Include one of the hack-a-day prize judges:
      http://hackaday.com/2014/07/22/judge-spotlight-andrew-bunnie-huang/

    2. Re:Smuggler's Rodeo by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

      Who needs a sub when you can equip a shark with a laser