Twenty students from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, ranging from freshmen to doctoral candidates, took first place in the international Maritime RobotX Challenge in Oahu, Hawaii this weekend with their autonomous maritime system – the NaviGator AMS. The RobotX Challenge is designed to foster student interest in autonomous robotic systems operating in the maritime domain.
The team is made up of students from the departments of electrical and computer engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering and computer and information science engineering. Eric Schwartz, director of the Machine Intelligence Lab, served as the project director and faculty advisor. Carl Crane, director of CIMAR, was the co-director and a faculty advisor. Ira Hill and Shannon Ridgeway were also faculty advisors. Though many of the students have previously worked on the award-winning SubjuGator and PropaGator teams, this was their first time entering the maritime competition.