University of Maryland Team Wins Robot Sub Competition 44
William Cox writes "A team from the University of Maryland has won the 11th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, held in San Diego, CA, this weekend. Twenty-five teams from around the world (US, Canada, Japan, and India) built autonomous submarines to complete a series of tasks using vision recognition, autonomous navigation, and sonar. Maryland unseated the 3-time record holder, University of Florida, to win first place. University of Texas at Dallas took 2nd, and a Canadian team, École de Technologie Supérieure, took 3rd."
Re:Robotic Cougar (Score:1, Interesting)
For the curious, a recent alert recieved by UMD students:
August 1, 2008
CAMPUS ALERT
Late this afternoon, a Department of Public Safety surveillance camera
observed a large feline at the edge of the same wooded area where the
two previous sighting of the suspected cougar were made. A search of the
area was conducted and the feline was also observed at close range by a
university police officer. Images of the feline were viewed by personnel
at the MD Department of Natural Resources and they have confirmed that
the feline that we observed and recorded is not a cougar.
The markings and size of the feline do appear consistent with a type of
cat called a Savannah Cat. This is a hybrid of a Domestic Short Hair cat
and a Serval, which is a larger African feline. Savannahs can grow to be
as large as 35 pounds and can be a great deal larger than normal
domesticated cats. They have been referred to as the Great Danes of the
cat family.
At this time, the feline is still loose. University police will continue
their efforts to positively identify the animal. If you should observe
this feline, please do not approach it; call the university police, at
301-405-3555 and report the sighting.
Prepared by:
Captain John Brandt
Public Information Officer
Congrats Steve! (Score:2, Interesting)
Steve, if you're reading this, congratulations!
Seriously, though, if that guy is any indication of the amount of effort the rest of the team put into their robot, UMD definitely earned this.
Congratulations Scott and Leo! (Score:2, Interesting)
You guys are awesome! This was only Maryland's second year at the competition, and unlike many of the other schools, it is an undergrad club led effort in design and fundraising.
And the head of the team is a physicist, not an engineer. There's a goofy picture of him with a pumpkin t-shirt on the team's website:
http://ram.umd.edu/ [umd.edu]