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Navy Wins International Robotic Sailboat Competition

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS110622-19
6/22/2011

By Jessica Clark, U.S. Naval Academy Public Affairs

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (NNS) -- A team of 12 United States Naval Academy graduates and midshipmen won first place at the 2011 SailBot competition for robotic sailboats, held June 13-16 at the academy in Annapolis, Md.

The team, made up of systems engineering, naval architecture and oceanography majors, designed and built a two-meter sailboat capable of autonomously completing a series of graded tasks outlined in the competition rules.

Four other teams from universities throughout Canada also competed.

The required tasks included a fleet race to determine the fastest boat, station keeping within a 40 square meter box, navigation, and a 10-kilometer endurance race. The teams were also graded on their presentations of their designs.

All of these grades are added to determine the final winner. This year, the Navy team received its third consecutive win and its highest score since the annual competition began in 2006.

The project spanned two semesters, with the first semester devoted mostly to design and testing and the second to building the structure and its control systems. The boat operates through the collaboration of sensors, processor and actuators.

Sensors receive wind direction and global positioning system location and feed these inputs to the processor which is preprogrammed with desired waypoints. The processor takes this information and, through a series of programmed algorithms, determines what commands to send to the actuators which direct rudder and sail control.

The boat monitors its GPS location, and when it is within 4 meters of a desired waypoint, it resets and goes on to the next programmed waypoint. The teams use a remote control to maneuver the boat to the start of each race, then the boat must operate on its own based on the students' programming.

"It's a lot of fun to spend time designing and troubleshooting everything," said Marine 2nd Lt. Nick Taschner. "To see it actually work is gratifying."

For the students, the project was a challenge but worth the effort.

"We're still learning new stuff in our major just working on this project," said Ensign Cody Keef. "There are so many variables with the computer technology and language that we use. It can be very frustrating and very rewarding all at the same time."

Naval architecture major Ensign Matt Harmon appreciated finally being able to practically apply what he's learned in the classroom.

"We [naval architecture majors] can't build a full working hull even though we've been designing them since we started," said Harmon. "It's really cool to actually be able to build one and get it in the water and watch is sail."

The project was especially challenging because of the many engineering design requirements and the fact that the Navy team works with a considerably lower budget than the other universities who competed, said Professor Paul Miller, who shared the responsibilities of project advisor with Professor Brad Bishop.

"It's hard to imagine a better project that teaches you teamwork, project management and reinforces all the skills you've learned," said Miller. "They did a phenomenal job."

The team will also compete at the World Robotic Sailboat Competition in Germany Aug. 16-20.