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Robotics Club Seeks 3rd Win in Surface Vehicle Competition

With a first place under their belt from the previous two International Autonomous Surface Vehicle competitions (ASVC), the UCF Robotics Club will travel to Virginia Beach this week with high spirits and an all new craft.

UCF will compete against 12 other teams in the design and programming of a surface vehicle to complete a 20-minute mission involving eight separate “trials.” Team members designed and built the craft with GPS navigation, computer vision, water cannon, and other capabilities required for the assignment.

Mission requirements are loaded into the onboard computer and the craft must use this information, plus input from its various sensors, to complete the trials. No radio-control is allowed during competition.

The eight-member team of graduate and undergraduate students based this year’s design on lessons learned from the two previous competitions. The team built the boat from scratch, including the lightweight fiberglass hulls.The current design, according to team notes, “is faster, stronger and more agile than previous years.”

Actual construction of Boatname the Brave began in late January. The craft was finally ready for launch in March. Club members continued building and testing components right up to the deadline for travel to Virginian Beach.

Team members are Chris Bunty (team leader; electrical engineering), Johathan Mohlenhoff (electrical engineering), Travis Goldberg (mechanical engineering), Kiran Bernard (electrical engineering), Ross Kerley (electrical engineering), Mike Podel (electrical engineering), Nick Yielding (electrical engineering), Brian Valentino (computer science), Gary Stein (robotics advisor; computer engineering) and Daniel Barber (academic advisor; modeling & simulation [1]).

For more information about the 3rd ASVC, including videos and a list of the competing universities, go to http://bit.ly/3rdASVC. The contest finals will stream live on Sunday, June 13, beginning at 1:00 pm EDT.