Hello all, welcome to our official recap of the RoboBoat competition in South Daytona, Florida! As some of you may know, Blue Robotics and RoboNation have a long, mutually inspiring history and BR has been lucky enough to sponsor RoboSub for 5 years now as well as RobotX for the first time in December, 2018. After years of partaking in the fun, inspiring, and innovative world that is RoboNation, it was only natural to want to join in on more competitions as well, leading us to sponsor RoboBoat for the first time in 2019!
Blue Robotics at RoboBoat, 2019
Competition Overview
Located at Reed Canal Park in South Daytona, Florida, RoboBoat hosted 13 teams from 4 countries including the US, Mexico, Indonesia, and Egypt. Each team was challenged to design a robotic boat which would navigate autonomously through an aquatic obstacle course, mimicking tasks of real life oceanographic operations. The result was 13 diverse boats, built by high school, college, and PHD students alike and composed of anything from fiberglass to pvc – all working towards the same goal.
RoboBoat obstacle course at Reed Canal Park
Winners!
- 1st Place – Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (Indonesia)
- 2nd Place – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida, USA)
- 3rd Place – Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia)
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (left), Universitas Indonesia (right).
Takeaway
Between watching the boats cruise the obstacle course, getting to know the RoboNation staff and students, and expanding our knowledge of the future of marine Robotics, we are happy to say BR’s first year at RoboBoat was a huge success!
Thank you and congratulations to all involved; we can’t wait to see what (and who) 2020 will bring! Now to shift our focus to RoboSub prep… hope to see you all in San Diego July 29-August 3rd 😉