Brac University team ranks second at RoboSub 2023

BRACU Duburi, a team from Brac University, has secured the second overall position in RoboSub 2023, an international student competition hosted by the nonprofit organisation RoboNation. In addition to becoming the first runners-up, the Bangladeshi team also received an Ingenuity Special Award in this competition, which is also known as the Judges Best Team Award.

RoboSub is deemed one of the largest student competitions for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Teams from around the world compete in various challenges and complex tasks using experimental AUVs to replicate real-world underwater exploration, seafloor mapping, and sonar localisation. RoboSub 2023 consisted of over 34 international teams from countries such as Singapore, India, Canada, and the US. The National University of Singapore secured first place and the University of Alberta achieved third place overall in this year's competition.

During the RoboSub 2023 finals held on August 6 in San Diego, California, US, the Bangladeshi team won the first runners-up position with their autonomous underwater vehicle BRACU Duburi 4.0. According to the team, the BRACU Duburi AUV is capable of autonomous underwater navigation as well as data collection powered by machine learning. The vehicle can then analyse the collected data to conduct rescue missions and provide solutions for water pollution reduction.

The team of BRACU Duburi for this year's RoboSub competition consisted of around 50 student members, with A. T. M. Masum Billah Mishu as team lead and Md Mahfujul Haque as vice-team lead. S.M Minoor Karim, Nazmul Haque Omi, Shaownak Md Ibne Shahriar Talukder, Partho Protim Sarker Joy, Samia Abdullah, and Umama Tasnuva Aziz participated as the subteam leads. Mahdi Uddin Ahmed, Soumik Hasan Shranto, Md. Musfique Billah, and Md Shazzad Hossain Chowdhury were contributing members.

Alongside the students, Dr Md. Khalilur Rahman, Professor, CSE Department, Brac University, was the team advisor. Sayantan Roy Arko and Md Nayem Hossain Saikat, two research assistants from Brac University, were co-advisors.

"The feeling cannot be expressed with words. After countless sleepless nights, this was a dream we are seeing in reality," says Md Mahfujul Haque, vice-team lead of BRACU Duburi. According to him, being able to surpass Ivy League universities such as the University of Alberta and Cornell University in this competition means that Bangladesh can truly compete head-to-head with leading global universities.