Seven members of the Gator Robotics team won second place in the 15th International RoboSub Competition in San Diego with an autonomous robotic submarine.
The competition included 31 competition teams from 10 different countries, said Eric Schwartz, head coach of the SubjuGator submarine team and director of the project.
Cornell University won the competition and École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) from Quebec placed third. Last year, ETS placed first, Cornell came in second and UF was third.
Computer engineering senior and former Gator Robotics president Camilo Buscaron, 23, said the competition involves complex work.
“Only a small set of people in the world can work on these problems,” he said.
The robot had to complete obstacle courses that included differentiating between colors and sounds and detecting movements.
The UF team won the competition from 2005 to 2007, Schwartz said.
He said this submarine, though, is the team’s best.
Gator Robotics won a $4,000 prize Sunday but spent $3,800 shipping the submarine and equipment.
Schwartz said the team doesn’t compete for the money, but he still wants to win.
“We’ve gotta get first next year,” he said.
