We are the Cabrillo Robotics Club (CRC), a student-led organization based at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. Our club focuses on interdisciplinary engineering projects, providing members with hands-on experience in software, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Through these projects, students gain technical knowledge beyond the scope of coursework. As a student-led organization, the club's focus evolves with each new leadership team. Over the years, we have developed vehicles capable of traveling on land, through the air, and underwater.
Currently, our club supports two projects. The Underwater Robotics Team is continuing development of our Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). LazerShark was our first AUV and demonstrated impressive performance in the 2025 RoboSub competition. With its next iteration, LazerShark II, the team aims to improve abstraction and reliability by refining and redesigning previous systems. The Aerospace Team, a new division in the robotics club, is working on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for the SUAS competition.
LazerShark is Cabrillo Robotics Club's first Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). After a history of building Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), winning first place overall at the MATE ROV World Championship three consecutive years, the team decided to progress to autonomous underwater systems. Like all CRC projects, LazerShark was built around our commitment to creating in-house solutions whenever possible. The vehicle's chassis was manufactured internally, its electronics stack is composed of custom PCBs, and the software is original and open-source. LazerShark made its debut at the 2025 RoboSub competition. The RoboSub Autonomy Challenge consists of three elimination rounds in which teams complete tasks based on real-world AUV applications. LazerShark placed 4th out of 60 teams in autonomy. In addition, CRC earned the Rookie of the Year award, recognizing impressive innovation and performance in the first year of participation.
SkyHawk is the Cabrillo Robotics Club’s first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), marking the team’s expansion from underwater robotics into the skies. Like LazerShark, SkyHawk must operate fully autonomously in flight. This requires advanced avionics, reliable communication systems, and robust computer vision pipelines to handle navigation, object detection, and payload delivery. SkyHawk will make its debut at the Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) Competition in 2026, where it will compete against more than 50 international teams in Maryland.