The University of Southern Mississippi Robotics team is building an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for a Robosub competition in California. The team will be the first team to compete from the state of Mississippi.
The faculty advisor for the team is Jose Martinez. He is working with the students to build, program and prepare for the competition.
“What we are building is an autonomous underwater vehicle that has to complete different tasks all by itself,” Martinez said. “It’s a vehicle that can perform underwater, it can go from a to be underwater, it can drop a load and pick up a load underwater all by itself.”
The AUV competition is in Irwin, California, and teams from all over the country are going to compete. Southern Miss will be the first team ever from Mississippi, which will be difficult according to Martinez.
“It’s a big challenge. First of all, building the vehicle is challenging because it’s a very sophisticated machine that we have to build,” Martinez said. “Also it’s a lot of hard work we have to put in cause we are going as the first university from the state competing in such a highly recognized competition, so it’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also very rewarding.”
Drishya Bashyal is a member of the team who works on building and programming the AUV. He said knowing that they are the first brings mixed emotions.
“So we are really excited and nervous at the same time, because we are putting in a lot of effort and work, but it’s hard,” said Bashyal.
As exciting as the project may be for the team, it doesn’t come without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges they are currently facing is funding. They are looking for sponsors to help with travel expenses.
“We are doing all of this on kind of a shoestring budget, so any little bit helps with that regard,” Andrew Montgomery, a member of the robotics team, said.
“We are trying to take our full team to California, and as of currently, it’s looking like a big, long 36-hour van ride out there with a lot of guys and a tight space, so if we could raise money to fund our trip out there, that would be super awesome,” Montgomery said.
Bashyal said he is thankful for the sponsors they already have, but they are hoping for more to make things easier.
“We really thank our sponsors like BNW Fabercations, and Mississippi Highway Protrol and if you want to sponsor us it would be a real great help for us cause that is the only thing that is like pulling us behind and we got to go up there to the competition, and we got to make these things and these things are not cheap,” Bashyal said.
Will Wroten is another member of the team, and he said he believes the best thing the community and USM could do to help them is to get their name and mission out there.
“Spread the word. Get our name out there to other potential people who might want to contribute, not even monetarily but just with their own work,” Wroten said. “If there are any schools that want to contribute or help us, you know, we’re game for helping with whoever wants to come and support.”
The team will spend the next few months preparing for the competition. It will be held July 11 through 16. The team said they are hoping to represent Mississippi well and put Southern Miss on top. To send support and donation information, it is best to email the robotics team at [email protected].
