The RobotX Challenge is designed to foster student interest in autonomous robotic systems operating in the maritime domain.

The NaviGator AMS (Autonomous Maritime System) utilized LIDAR, GPS, passive Sonar, Compass, ROS (Robot Operating System), four machine vision cameras, and a racquetball launcher to defeat the competition from around the world.

ECE PhD candidate, Andy Gray led the students on the NaviGator team. The team was made up of students from the departments of electrical and computer engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and computer and information science engineering.

Dr. 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 (link is external) and PropaGator (link is external) teams, this was their first time entering the maritime competition.