This week in Orlando, Florida, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) held a gathering of drone industry people, from manufacturers of parts to autopilot software coders to the big aviation giants themselves. There was a lot to see, and while some of it was just quadcopters, Popular Science managed to catch a few robots in motion.

The Bot Lobster

SeaPerch is a major robotics program and competition aimed at schoolchildren. The classic kit involves an underwater machine assembled from small flotation devices, PVC pipe, and little motors. The basic challenge, after building the robot, is piloting it underwater to successfully hook rings and deliver them to designated drop spots. The machines are tethered, meaning communication between controls and the bot happens along that black wire. Below, our intrepid reporter struggles to move the robot precisely, and instead crashes it into the soft side of the tank.