At the 2014 RoboSub competition, the two top teams chose VideoRay GTO thrusters as their primary drive source. Cornell University’s CUAUV and University of Florida’s SubjuGator both relied on VideoRay thrusters to help them to first and second places, respectively.
The UF team credited the use of VideoRay thrusters with helping their team maximize their competition score and ultimately succeed, saying:
“Over the last few years, the complexity and length of the RoboSub competition has increased. No longer is it sufficient to just successfully complete the competition tasks at any pace. With significant time constraints, teams have to choose which tasks to attempt to maximize the points they will be awarded. For the last seven years, we [SubjuGator] have relied on VideoRay for our primary drive thrusters to get our vehicle to and from tasks faster that the competition and therefore attempt more tasks. Outside of the competition, VideoRay has been extremely supportive of our team providing us with valuable technical support and an affordable underwater propulsion system that has unmatched reliability and forward thrust.”
Sponsored by the AUVSI Foundation and the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), the annual RoboSub competition brings together student teams from around the world to perform realistic missions in underwater environments using home-built Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).
Press Release, August 26, 2014; Image: Flickr