Autonomous Vehicle News
Franchetti, current vice chief of naval operations and self-described STEM fan, sees the Navy’s strength and future in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills displayed by students and their autonomous underwater vehicles built for this year’s RoboSub competition. Thirty-four teams – including international teams from Bangladesh, Canada, India and Singapore – are participating in the competition, which began July 31 and ends Aug. 6. An event like RoboSub, Franchetti said, can spur excitement for anything STEM among high school and college students. “If one team is struggling, there’s very likely another team that’s going to help them out. What we need is folks who can do that for us.”Each team designs and builds an autonomous, unmanned underwater vehicle.