The Robotics Club at UCF took fourth place Sunday at the international RoboBoat competition in Virginia Beach, Va.
The student-run club, supervised by faculty advisor Daniel Barber from the UCF Institute for Simulation & Training, assembled a 15-person team and entered their boat, Gray Goose, in the contest against 18 other universities. Student teams in the fifth-annual challenge designed and raced vehicles through an aquatic obstacle course.
UCF brought home a $3,000 prize from the competition, which was won by the University of Michigan. The challenge was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
Each team’s vehicle had to complete casino-themed challenges at different stations as part of the competition, such as the “Poker Chip” station, in which boats tried to retrieve a token from a dock. Teams were evaluated on their vehicle’s visual sensor abilities, speed and accuracy of navigation.
The Robotics Club at UCF has placed at RoboBoat since the competition’s start, earning second place in 2011 and 2010, and taking first place in 2009 and 2008.
To view the team’s entry video for the competition, click here: http://youtu.be/z7W1wWVXAmA.