Teledyne Marine Awards DVL for RoboSub Product Grant

Teledyne Marine announces the award of a Wayfinder Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) to the RUMarino team from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez as the winner of their 2020 RoboSub product grant.

RoboSub is an international student competition in which teams from around the world design and build robotic Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to compete in an annual competition in which they are challenged to perform a number of specific tasks. Due to the pandemic, this year’s competition was hosted as a virtual event.

DVLs have proven to be a highly sought-after payload for this competition, as they provide vehicles with precision navigation capability, allowing teams to perform their assigned tasks with significantly increased efficiency.

Operations Management Lead for the team, Ricardo Álvarez Rodríguez, shared his team’s excitement through the following message, “RUMarino has always faced different types of adversities, ranging from hurricanes to lack of budget. We have competed three times at RoboSub and after each competition we have tried to get our hands on a DVL, but due to our lack of budget we were never able to get one. Thanks to Teledyne's sponsorship, our team can begin to work with advanced algorithms and explore ideas that were unfeasible in the past. We are looking forward to working with the Wayfinder.”

Grant Jennings, Director of Product Lines at Teledyne RD Instruments explains, “The concept of our new Wayfinder DVL actually originated from these teams’ past requests for a smaller, lighter, and more affordable DVL suited for their vehicles. It seemed only fitting that we host a RoboSub grant this year to accompany the launch of this new product that they’ve inspired. We received 13 great submissions, but the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez won us over with their abilities, team spirit and tenacity in the face of immense challenges over the years.”

“Active partnerships play a critical role in the development of skills, career awareness and networking for students participating our programs and competitions like RoboSub. We are grateful that sponsors like Teledyne Marine are able to provide expert speakers, judges and in-kind donations like the Wayfinder DVL. We are excited for the University of Puerto Rico to receive this great opportunity,” said Hitesh Patel, University Programs Director said speaking on behalf of RoboNation, the managing organization for RoboSub.

As the selected winner, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez RUMarino team will receive a Wayfinder DVL, and in exchange will assist Teledyne RDI with assessing the product’s “out of box” experience, documentation review, vehicle integration, and field testing, providing Teledyne with valuable insights into the customer experience. Stephen Apsey, General Manager for Teledyne RD Instruments explains, “This is a great opportunity for these teams to not only enjoy the benefits of owning a DVL, but to also participate in real word engineering support activities that will help build their confidence, skills and resume. We’re excited to test drive this novel initiative.”

To show support for all RoboSub teams, Teledyne Marine is offering all past and present teams a 10% discount off a new Wayfinder DVL for their vehicles through December 2020.

For more information on RoboSub, click here.

For more information on Teledyne RDI’s new Wayfinder DVL designed for micro vehicles, click here.