Southern Miss Students Earn National Recognition at 2026 RoboSub Competition
Mon, 08/03/2026 - 10:03am | By: Chloe Martin
Students from 果冻传媒麻豆社鈥檚 School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering and School of Ocean Science and Engineering recently earned national recognition at the 2026 RoboSub Competition, advancing to the semifinal round and receiving a BlueRobotics Award for innovation in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) design.
Held July 11-16 at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine, Calif., RoboSub is an international competition that challenges student teams to design and build autonomous underwater vehicles capable of completing complex tasks such as navigation, object manipulation and acoustic localization. The 2026 event featured 58 teams from nine countries, including the United States, Singapore, India, Brazil and Mexico.
Southern Miss competed with a custom-built autonomous underwater vehicle designed and built entirely by students. The team was the only Mississippi team in the 2026 RoboSub Competition and advanced to the semifinal round in its first year of competition.
The RoboSub team was initiated by The Institute for Advanced Analytics and Society (IAAS) to connect and support high-performing students and faculty in the School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering and the School of Ocean Science and Engineering.
Faculty adviser Dr. Jose Martinez Cruz, assistant professor in the School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering, said the team balanced performance with long-term planning throughout the competition.
鈥淲e qualified for the semifinals, but our thrusters were starting to slip,鈥� Dr. Martinez said. 鈥淲e went a little conservative after qualifying, thinking ahead to future demos at the Payne Center. Even so, the team went above and beyond. We learned so much about how to improve the AUV, its parts, and its design.鈥�
"The nights leading up to qualifying, the team really came together," said Andrew Montgomery, captain of the Southern Miss RoboSub team. "Everyone had assignments for a final Hail Mary effort to re-engineer a major system. Despite being tired after the trip to California, everyone hit the ground running and pulled everything together in the eleventh hour. If it weren't for that night's rally, I don't think we would have had the success that we did."
The team also delivered a TechTalk at the competition, sharing the challenges of building an AUV for the first time and the solutions they developed along the way.
Student team members included Andrew Montgomery, a graduate student in computer science, along with undergraduate students Jonathan Huerta and Prabesh Pathak, both in computer engineering; Drishya Bashyal, computer science; and Mason Bryan, ocean engineering.
Southern Miss' success was supported by key industry partners who contributed technical expertise and specialized components essential to integrating advanced computing, perception systems and mechanical design. Integer Technologies donated a flight controller and provided hands-on engineering support through collaborator Ishan Agrawal. B&W Fabrication, a metal shop in Wesson, Miss., laser-cut the AUV's main frame.
The team also received a BlueRobotics Award, which includes two professional-grade thrusters suitable for both saltwater and freshwater operations. The award is recognized on the and will support the team's next round of upgrades. The new thrusters will expand the team's autonomous capabilities during upcoming public demonstrations.
The project prepares students for careers in maritime robotics, search and rescue technology, autonomous systems and related fields.
Learn more about the School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering and the School of Ocean Science and Engineering.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences at 果冻传媒麻豆社 is home to 13 schools, two ROTC units,
and more than 100 academic programs. Guided by the University鈥檚 mission, we educate
students, lead the state and nation in research and the creative arts, and advance
knowledge across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM. Through innovative research
and nationally recognized student success, we provide pathways to understanding the
past, solving today's challenges, and imagining the possibilities of tomorrow.