Kochi, Jan 21: A team of engineering students from the Muthoot Institute of Technology and Science (MITS), Ernakulam, has qualified for the finals of the International Singapore Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge (SAUVC), to be held in China, this year.
The seven-member team consists of third-year students from the Departments of Computer Science and Electronics & Communication and are preparing for the finals, scheduled from May 28 to 31 at Sanya Yazhou Sports Park in China.
Team members include Gayathri M S, Jerin M Joshwa, Aditya R Menon, Nandana R, and Rifana K Shejir from Computer Science, along with Kiran Alias Shaji and Vasudev Reji from Electronics and Communication.
Organized by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society in association with the National University of Singapore, the SAUVC is a globally recognized competition that advances research and innovation in Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technology. The MITS team is one of the finalists shortlisted from 126 entries across 20 countries.
In the finals, teams will deploy their AUVs in a simulated underwater environment and complete four key challenges: navigation, visual identification, acoustic localization, and robotic manipulation. These tasks are critical to modern marine exploration and subsea engineering. Winners will be determined by the precision, accuracy, and speed of their AUVs in achieving mission objectives.