News in Press-centre

The team of Robotics Engineers from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) and the Institute of Marine Technology Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS IMTP), won the third prize at Singapore AUV Challenge, an open Asian underwater robotics championship. Competition was held at Singapore Polytechnic University. Teams from 10 countries—Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and Sri Lanka—fought for the victory.

The FEFU & FEB RAS team was the only representative of Russia at the competition. The team included the following FEFU undergraduate and postgraduate students: Maxim Sporyshev and Ivan Chemezov (School of Engineering), Andrey Mahlyarchuk, Alexandra Zhikhareva and Nikita Utin (School of Natural Sciences), as well as Grigory Eliseenko, postgraduate student of the FEB RAS IMTP.

In the final, Junior AUV successfully coped with two of the four tests and won 'bronze' for the FEFU & FEB RAS team, losing to rivals from the Northwest Polytechnic University (China) and the National Institute of Technology Rourkela (India). The AUV successfully overcame the distance in the water, passed through the gate and found a pinger (ultrasonic underwater lighthouse) without communication with a human and by using machine vision.

“We have equipped the device with the new computer vision and additional navigation systems for Singapore AUV Challenge,” said team captain Maxim Sporyshev. “We have a great team of developers and are planning to create a fundamentally new AUV in the future that will definitely surprise the rivals and will not leave them any chance to win!”

According to FEFU team members, the updated device will be ready for the next competition: RoboSub world tournament in the US in August 2018. The new AUV will differ by hydroacoustic system and other approach to machine vision—the developers plan to use a stereopair, which will serve both for recognition of objects, and for optimizing the navigation system.