Cornell University defended its title as champion at this year’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) competition in Point Loma from July 16 to 18. The competition brought together 22 teams from five countries for the 13th annual event. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Pacific has hosted the event, sponsored by the AUVSI Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and several corporate sponsors, at the Transducer Evaluation Center (TRANSDEC) Pool for the past nine years. Students were required to build and program their own autonomous underwater vehicles that would complete a course of various obstacles, including recognizing colors and reacting to sounds. The theme this year was “Underwater the 13th” — a horror film flavor. Dave Novick, technical director for the competition, said the pool was filled with various summer camp-themed obstacles. First, the robots had to get a life jacket (recognize the colored buoys), jump the hedges (move over piping that was suspended in the water), select tools for weapons (identify shapes), fire a crossbow through the window (launch a torpedo), and finally save the counselor by pulling him out of a cabin (in this case, surface). “Releasing is new this year,” Novick said. “They have to release the counselor before surfacing.” He said most of the obstacles rely on visual cues because cameras are cheap and easy to use. But he said he hopes to incorporate a wider variety of challenges in future years. Also new this year was the SAE International Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) Interoperability Challenge that accounted for about 15 percent of the total possible points. The requirement was a late addition to this year’s event, but 11 teams gave it a try. About half of them got a perfect score. “So much of what they do is on the research and science side,” said Ralph “Woody” English, president of SAE AS-4, a group that publishes documents on JAUS. “We think it challenges them to think about things they will do on the job side.” The event is open to the public during the qualifying rounds and finals each year. Steve Koepenick, Deputy of Program Development for SSC Pacific’s ISR/IO Competency, Autonomous Systems Division, said the competition is a great opportunity for community outreach. In the past, the Center has hired some of the students who participate in the competition. Just by preparing for the competition, they show that they can work across disciplines, defend their work and apply concepts to real-world applications. “We hire the best and brightest,” Koepenick said. “(These students would) know what to do when they get here.” SSC Pacific is recognized worldwide as a leader in command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of the nation’s warfighters.