U.S. Naval Academy's Project Stingray robosub

Under water is the place to be this weekend if you're an engineering student looking for a challenge. This begoggled midshipman is sharing pool time with the U.S. Naval Academy's entrant in the 10th annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, taking place at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. (Man and machine are seen here earlier this month in a dive test on the Annapolis team's home turf.)

The Naval Academy's effort goes by the name of Project Stingray, and while it may look like neither stingray nor submarine, it is rigged up to perform a series of aquatic tasks that will determine the winner of the competition. The robot subs--more formally, autonomous underwater vehicles--must take into account a range of factors: computer control, power management, navigation, buoyancy and hydrodynamics.

Editors' note: On Monday, July 16, initial word on the winner was posted on a pair of team Web sites. To find out who's No. 1 in 2007, read this blog item. For more photos, and details of some of the subs, read on in this gallery.

Captions by Jonathan Skillings