Students from the University of Newcastle have formed one of only three Australian teams who were chosen to compete in the Maritime RobotX Challenge (RobotX), in December, 2016 in Hawaii.

Sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and run by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the Challenge involves teams of university students from five Pacific Rim countries – U.S., Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan.

The thirteen participating teams each received an unpowered and unplugged version of the 16' WAM-V® (Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel) along with a grant to build a battery-powered propulsion system. The Maritime RobotX Challenge featured a series of realistic challenges in autonomous navigation and detection. Tasks were specifically formulated to test students' design, implementation and optimisation of sensors and control systems.

The University of Newcastle's 2016 team consists of undergraduate and postgraduate students, primarily from mechatronics engineering. As the only team from NSW, they are excited at the opportunity to represent the state at this event and strongly value the unique challenges and learning experiences that this competition will bring.