Tortuga Completes Successful Course Test

Yesterday evening Tortuga successfully completed a battery of tests on a full scale mock up of the  AUVSI and ONR's 12th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition course. The course was setup in the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the  Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium. We chose this pool because it is large enough to setup the course with the objectives at full-scale distances from each other.

During the actual testing Tortuga successfully followed pipes, hit the flare, went under the barbed wire, lined up for the machine gun nest, and surfaced with the brief case in the octagon. The bombing run was not completed due to issues with floor tile patterns, but we have completed it numerous times at our normal testing facility, the  NBRF. Below are some pictures taken of Tortuga during the ERC test runs:

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A compilation of shots showing Tortuga in action, going clockwise from the upper left: Hitting the flare, lining up for the barbed wire, surfacing with the brief case, lining up for the machine gun nest.