Ten Gators have built a self-navigating submarine.
A team of nine UF engineering students and a professor spent about a year and hundreds of hours in the lab to construct, test and perfect their model of the submarine.
They did not make it to the final cut, however, at the 13th annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego last week.
"The difference between victory and total failure is very small," said professor Erik Schwartz, a consultant for the project.
The event invites teams from universities from all over the world to show the abilities of their submarines, which are entirely independent from any human control.
The first-place winner this year was Cornell University.
UF has competed since 1996 and was the first-place winner in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The team's submarine, called "SubjuGator," weighed between 50 and 60 pounds and included two cameras, two computers, six thrusters, two shooters, one grabber, a compass and a thermometer among other mechanics, said Cedric Adam, a mechanical engineering student who worked on the project.
The submarine's basic mechanical core was the same as the one used in the past three years, but each year students make significant improvements on the software and motors.
The competition requires the submarines to locate, shoot at and pick up objects.
During the competition, the UF team was doing well until the final round, when the circuits moving the propellers malfunctioned. The submarine went around in circles until the students gave up and pulled it out of the water.
"A fish with only one fin can only swim in circles," Schwartz said, describing the SubjuGator's dysfunctional motor driver.
On their way home Monday, the students were already discussing ways to improve their submarine model for next year.
