San Diego mayor cheers on future engineers at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific 'RoboSub' Competition

Photo By Rick Naystatt | San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Naval Academy AUVSI student participant discuss the teams RoboSub at the 14th annual AUVSI competition in San Diego. The U.S. Office of Naval Research and Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International co-sponsored event that challenges students to design AUVs to perform realistic missions in a simulated ocean environment. AUVs are important to the Navy because they perform a variety of missions including underwater mapping, mine location, and facilitating detailed scientific research. As the Navy's Information Dominance Systems Command, SPAWAR supports AUV development and strongly encourages all students to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.  

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES

07.15.2011

Story by Nicole Collins 

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR)

SAN DIEGO – Teams from universities worldwide competed in the 14th annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International RoboSub Competition hosted by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific July 12-17.

Cosponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and AUVSI, the competition provides opportunities for students to experience challenges of system engineering and develop skills to accomplish realistic missions with autonomous vehicles.

28 universities and two high schools are participating in the week long competition. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders visited the competition at SPAWAR’s Transducer Evaluation Center pool on July 15.

“San Diego has a long relationship with the Navy and especially with SPAWAR; they do incredible science out here every single day. We feel very lucky to have them in San Diego,” said Sanders at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific TRANSDEC pool.

Sanders continued to address the students stating “some of you are scary smart and that’s exactly what we want, we want kids who are innovative that are learning in the sciences and who want to come to work in the science areas.”

Unmanned autonomous systems are the future and a critical part of the work at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific. These systems are valuable assets throughout the military, industry and academic communities, and SPAWAR continues to look for new ways to use technologies for unmanned systems – often getting ideas from student participants.

“AUVSI promotes learning of new technologies and there is a growing trend in autonomous robotics,” said U.S. Naval Academy Student Paul Schauppner. “While in the field, students learn how to use this technology in the future and become familiar with its advanced capabilities.”

AUVSI is the worlds’ largest nonprofit organization devoted to advancing the unmanned systems community. AUVSI’s membership is comprised of government organizations, industry and academia.

"SPAWAR is a prominent player in information systems dominance and in meeting the Navy's ongoing requirements for autonomous underwater systems. So it is fitting that SSC Pacific is co-hosting AUVSI's annual event that brings together students, engineers and other systems professionals from the around the world," said Capt. Joe Beel, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific Commanding Officer. "We're proud to encourage and nurture the learning and development of future robotic endeavors."

First place winners will receive the San Diego Mayor’s Cup on July 17.

• Date Taken: 07.15.2011
• Date Posted: 07.15.2011 16:38
• Story ID: 73811
• Location: SAN DIEGO, CA, US