August 18th, 2026
Showcase Event
The Showcase Event is part of the Underwater Robotics AI challenge. If you want to participate as exhibitor for the showcase event please register using the button below. If you want to participate as a visitor to either the competition or the showcase event please register using the 2nd button.
The Challenge
This challenge offers participants the opportunity to exchange latest research ideas in AI-based marine robotics, present their systems to a broad public as part of a competition and to demonstrate what is already possible in the field of underwater AI.
The event will bring together researchers, industry professionals, start-ups, and students to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and marine robotics. It will feature a robotics challenge in a test-basin environment aimed at early-stage researchers and companies as an in-water showcase. In addition, an industry exhibition will present cutting-edge technologies through robotic systems and posters.
The overall goal is to promote the development and evaluation of AI-driven methods for autonomous underwater systems in realistic environments.
Underwater robotics poses major challenges for AI, including limited sensing, restricted communication, uncertain and dynamic environments, and strong data scarcity. Addressing these issues requires advances in perception, learning-based control, decision making, and robust autonomy.
By combining competition, exhibition, and research exchange, the event creates a unique platform that connects theoretical AI research with real-world robotic systems.
The event will strengthen the interaction between the AI research community and industrial stakeholders, while highlighting marine robotics as an important and demanding application domain for future AI research.
Tentative agenda:
8:00–9:00 a.m. – Arrival & technical check
- Registration
- Setup / final tests
- Safety briefing for teams
9:00–9:30 a.m. – Official opening
- Welcome by institute management & Ms. Bernhard (Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space, BMFTR)
- Introduction of the jury
- Procedure & safety rules
- Brief introduction of all teams (max. 1 slide / 60 seconds)
STUDENT COMPETITION
9:30–12:30 a.m./p.m. – Qualifying rounds
- Disciplines:
- Obstacle course
- Object inspection
- Object manipulation
12:30–1:30 p.m. – Lunch break
- Companies can present themselves
- Students and companies: exchange/contact
1:30–2:30 p.m. – Final round for students (Top 3–5 teams)
INDUSTRY SHOWCASE (focus: inspiration instead of competition)
2:45–3:15 p.m. – Company pitches
- 5 min. per company (focus: application, innovation, jobs)
3:15–4:30 p.m. – Live demos by companies
- Demonstrate performance
- Comparison with student solutions
- Present future technologies
4:30–5:00 p.m. – Coffee break
- Matchmaking spots (5-minute speed dating)
5:00–5:30 p.m. – Award ceremony & closing
Challenge Rules
- navigation through a simple obstacle course, consisting of two gates. Position of the gates has to be detected, it will be changed from the training dataset. The gates consist of ropes attached to a weight at the bottom and two orange/yellow buoys at the top. The orange gate has to be traversed before the yellow gate.
- object detection & inspection: There is an are in the underwater basin with a number of objects on a sandy floor surrounded by black tiles (and visual markers). One of the objects has to be detected and visually inspected.
- object manipulation: at a random position in the basin a shackle is placed on the ground with a short rope and a yellow buoy attached. This object has to be picked up and returned to the surface.
- Freestyle (team can decide the task): anything which the robot is capable of can be shown as additional task.
The competition will be limited to small systems (e.g. BlueROV2, but explicitly not limited to this system). Maximum weight of the system is 20kg, and it needs to be hand-deployable (no crane operation). Both AUV and ROV systems will be accepted, although only hands-free operation will be permitted for the obstacle course – no human remote operation will be allowed.
Training Dataset
The video above shows the training dataset for the competition. It shows the vehicle (BlueROV2) performing the following tasks:
- Diving, finding the two gates, traversing them in order (first orange gate, then yellow gate)
- Inspecting the UXO in the middle of the basin
- locating and retrieving the object (weight with buoy), returning it to the surface
Organizing Committee
Organizing Institutions
Funded by BMFTR (01IW22003)
