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38 MTR March 2006 ing one of four bins in the pipeline. The third task is to home in on an acoustic beacon and breech within a sur- face zone marked on the surface with floats. These three tasks can be completed in any order. A random order light box will be positioned just outside the gate and will be used to signify which of the four bins from Station B to drop markers in. Each vehicle will have 15 minutes to complete the tasks (with and additional 5 minutes of dock preparation time). Any vehicle that touches the docking station, places at least one marker in the bin or on the target area and has the vehicle surface (at least briefly) fully within the recov- ery zone (no part outside the zone) will receive bonus points proportional to the unused time. Each vehicle must begin the run by passing under a validation gate. At any time during the run, if a vehicle breaches the surface, the run is terminated. For the 9th International AUV Competition, each entry must fit within a six-foot long, by three-foot wide, by three-foot high "box" ( 1.83 m x 0.91 m x 0.91 m ). To enter the competition and to learn much, much more, check out this web site. http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm If you want a job in robotic engineering, the best thing to do is to join one of these competitions. Corporate sponsors such as Lockheed, Boeing and EG&G arrive in force to nab the best, brightest and the most motivated students. There have been at least seven students hired directly out of earlier competitions and so many receive incredibly useful hands on experience. These kids are not out partying every night. They live for the thrill of solving the most complex problem sets. They lust after smaller power supplies and tighter tolerances. These guys and gals are so hip they are in fact rocket scientists. You automati- cally feel smarter just sitting next to them. 2005 Standings First Place University of Florida Second Ecole de Technologie Superieure Third MIT Fourth Duke University Fifth Amador Valley High School Sixth University of Rhode Island Seventh University of Southern California Eighth Cornell University Ninth University of Colorado at Denver Tenth Southern Polytechnic State University Eleventh University of Texas at Dallas Twelfth Georgia Tech - Marine Robotics Society Thirteenth University of Central Florida Fourteenth Virginia Tech Fifteenth University of Ottawa Sixteenth University of Victoria Seventeenth DeVry Eighteenth North Carolina State University Nineteenth Indian Underwater Robotics Society Top: Amador Valley High School AUV2005 Design Team (photo credit: HW Edwards Co.) Bottom: Amador Valley High School 2005 AUV placed 5th in the 2005 AUV competition. MTR#2 (33-48).qxd 2/23/2006 4:36 PM Page 38
