Neel Mehta
Northrop Grumman is helping to sponsor a contest in Singapore for university students around the world to build and demonstrate unmanned surface vessels.
Fifteen college teams from the U.S., Singapore, Korea, Japan and Australia will take part in the Maritime RobotX Challenge from Oct. 20 to 26 at Singapore’s Marina Bay complex, Northrop said Monday.
Northrop engineers Kyle Palmer and Tyler Tamashiro will guide the participants in operating their USVs and evaluate the performance of student-made unmanned boats.
“As mentors, Kyle and I look forward to engaging discussions with the teams and providing them with valuable advice,” Tamashiro said.
“The innovations and ideas that come out of this event advance technologies that will be used by numerous industries in the future,” Palmer added.
Each RobotX team received funding to develop a USV that is equipped with technology for the vessel to avoid threats, search for underwater acoustics and identify targets.
Northrop partnered with Singapore’s defense agency, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation to support the RobotX event.
