In The Beginning...
The CUAUV team, as we know it today, was started by sophomores
Serguei Vassilvitskii, Nidhi Kalra, Jack Chuang, and Walter Chang in September of 1999, under the supervision of Cornell Professor Kevin Kornegay of Electrical Engineering. Originally known as the BRAIN team (for Big Red Artificial Intelligence Navigator), CUAUV gives students the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in classroom studies in a systems engineering project that demands a successful combination of organization, innovation, and teamwork.
Redtide + Yellow Sub = The Gimbal Porpoise...
In 1999-2000, forty students were members of the BRAIN team, but actually designed and built two different AUVs, 'Redtide' and 'Yellow Sub', to enter in the 3rd Annual AUV Competition. But, after the final rules were released, which stated that only one entry per school was allowed to enter, Team Redtide and Yellow Sub merged to create the 'Gimbal Porpoise' as Cornell's AUV. The team and vehicle performed well at their first competition at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL, taking first place in the Safety of Design, Technical Merit, and Craftsmanship categories, and they tied for second place overall with the competition favorite and two-time defending champion, MIT. More importantly, the competition experience provided many lessons on how to improve the design and quality of the vehicle for later years.
