Achievements

AUV IITB was established in 2011 by 3 tech enthusiasts with a passion for underwater robotics. It's been more than 14 years since our inception, we've grown to a team of 55+ bright and dedicated individuals. We're still learning and growing.
Here is a glimpse of our journey.

Our Journey

2011: Inception

Team AUV-IITB was born in 2011 out of the efforts of a group of highly enthusiastic students who were passionate to explore the field of underwater robotics and autonomous systems.

2012: Matsya 1

Matsya 1 was the first AUV designed and built by our team with a goal to develop a state of the art AUV. It was the first AUV entered by our team in the Robosub competition. Matsya 1 was the lightest AUV in Robosub 2012.

2016: Runners up at RoboSub

From 2015-2020, our team was the best performing Indian AUV team at every RoboSub. Our team was the runner-up at RoboSub 2016, among 46 teams from 9 different countries. We were also the best performing Asian AUV team.

2017: First team to take 2 AUVs

Our team was among the finalists and ranked 7th at RoboSub 2017. Our team also became the first-ever to take 2 AUVs to one competition.

2017 & 2019: Dominance at NIOT SAVe

Our team bagged the first position at NIOT SAVe consecutively for 2 years in 2017 & 2019. We were also among the semi-finalists at Robosub 2019.

2020: Janes Feature

Our team ranked overall 7th at RoboSub and 3rd in the Video category. We were featured in Janes the world's most reputed defence journal. Invited to present a research paper in the prestigious International Conference INEST India 2020, INS Shivaji, Lonavala before the Chief of Navy and International marine specialists.

2021: Young Researcher Award by
IEEE OES

Our team received the Young Researcher Award by IEEE OES. In RoboSub, we won prestigious awards in 3 out of the 4 categories. We secured 2nd rank in the Video category, 4th rank for TDR and 6th rank in the Website category in RoboSub 2021.

2022 & 2023: Best Wildcard Entry

At Robosub 2022, the team secured 7th place overall and was awarded the Best Wildcard Entry, along with achieving 3rd place in the Video Presentation category for effectively showcasing the design and mission strategy. Building on that success, the team advanced to the finals at Robosub 2023, finishing 10th overall, reflecting consistent global performance and continued technical innovation.

2024: An excellent performance

At Robosub 2024, the team delivered one of its strongest performances yet, with a remarkable 4th place finish in the finals, showcasing the AUV’s robust real-world task execution, autonomous stability, and mission strategy. Additionally, the team secured 1st place in the Technical Design Report (TDR).



Industrial Collaborations

Indian Navy

Indian Naval Services

We had the privilege of partnering with INS Shivaji on the development an Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV). Over the course of a month, our joint effort focused on automating the navigation. We also ensured the mission execution of the USV, enabling it to achieve setpoints and detect and avoid obstacles.

L&T

Larsen & Toubro

We have joined hands with Larsen & Toubro to make a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for defence purposes. Industrial standards of manufacturing are being used for the project. The vehicle with real-world applications can be used in the open sea to accomplish sophisticated tasks.

Indian Navy

Drona Aviation

This collaboration aims to design a small and mass-producible Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) specifically for educational purposes. This vehicle, which emphasises simplicity, ease of assembly and affordability, is the underwater equivalent of drone kits, providing a hands-on learning experience in underwater robotics.

L&T

CoE-OGE

We are collaborating with ‘The Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas and Energy’ on a project they received from a consortium of oil companies, led by ONGC, to design a towfish. The primary objectives are to enhance underwater pipeline inspection capabilities by detecting potential faults, such as cracks or leaks, and mapping the sea bed using advanced sonar technology.




Research & Development

BMS: We have developed a prototype for a Battery Management System (BMS) with a coulomb counter with probabilistic filters to determine the State Of Charge (SOC), essential protections, Cell balancing and Battery switching. It is estimated that the BMS will help increase the run-time of our current vehicle by 10%, the battery life by 20%, and then add one layer of robust protection. This is a patented technology, and a paper has been published on this, for which we have received IEEE’s Young Researcher of the Year Award in 2021.


Unity-based SImulator: We have developed a Unity-based simulator designed to replace the Gazebo-ROS simulator. This new simulator seamlessly interfaces with ROS and offers significantly improved physical dynamics, enabling us to conduct simulations of the run and test components of our course with greater accuracy.


CNN on an FPGA: We are fabricating an in-house data acquisition unit using field programmable gate arrays so that we can tailor the unit to our specific requirements, ensuring optimal performance and seamless integration with our existing systems.