In order to attract more students to the field of robotics and with the belief that “hands-on” activities provide a much-needed opportunity to enhance traditional classroom teaching, the AUVSI Foundation directly sponsors 5 annual Robotic Competitions and supports other annual Competitions around the world.
These Competitions have captured the imagination of students, industry, the media and the public around the world as they have been featured on television, radio and news and special-interest publications around the world.
Although these Competitions vary in the challenges and settings in which they take place – air, land, sea and sub-sea – they have several key elements in common. The AUVSI Foundation's student competitions attract the best and the brightest students from around the world; and they serve as perhaps the best recruiting sites imaginable for any organization involved in the robotics field.
To learn more about sponsoring or recruiting at any or all of these events, contact Wendy Siminski at siminski@auvsifoundation.org.
Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC)
June 4-7, 2010
Rochester, Michigan
The IGVC challenges college student teams to evelop an autonomous ground vehicle that must navigate a complicated obstacle course, complete with an extensive list of mobility and design requirements. Partnerships between students and industry leaders enable the competition to not only serve as a unique educational experience, but also a way to get an inside view of design challenges and establish connections with potential mentors or future employers.
Website
AUVSI Foundation and ONR's 3rd International Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Competition
June 10-13, 2010
Founders Inn & Spa
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
The Autonomous Surface Vehicle Competition (ASVC) is a student competition based around unmanned boats operating under rules of the waterway. This includes littoral area navigation, channel following and autonomous docking. This is typically done with computer vision, multi-sensor fusion techniques, proactive and reactive path planning, and machine learning approaches using embedded systems within the vehicle.
Website
Student Unmanned Air System (SUAS) Competition
June 16-20, 2010
Webster Field
Patuxent River, MD, USA
The SUAS Competition, aimed at stimulating and fostering interest in unmanned air systems, technologies and careers, is focused on engaging students in a challenging mission. It requires the design, integration and demonstration of a system capable of conducting air operations to include autonomous flight, navigation of a specified course and use of onboard payload sensors. Additionally, students are required to submit technical journal papers and make oral presentations.
Website
AUVSI Foundation and ONR's 13th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Competition
July 13-18, 2010
SSC Pacific TRANSDEC
San Diego, CA, USA
Co-sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the goal of this competition is to advance the development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) by challenging a new generation of engineers to perform realistic missions in an underwater environment. This event also serves to foster ties between young engineers and the organizations developing AUV technologies.
Website
International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC)
August 11-14, 2010
University of Puerto Rico
The IARC requires collegiate teams to create fully autonomous flying robots capable of negotiating urban warfare situations from a significand stand-off distands of 3km. Each aerial robot must independently find and enter a designated building to locate and relay specific target information in under 15 minutes. The IARC allows student teams to prepare for challenges that have robotic applications highly relevant to DoD or MoD programs.
Website