Bangladesh’s first autonomous underwater vehicle ‘Duburi’ (The Diver) has become the first runner-up in the international RoboNation competition ‘Robosub 2023’. The ‘BRACU Duburi’ also won the Ingenuity Special Award for excellence in innovation. The National Team of 35 countries of the world participated in this competition held in San Diego, California. Organized by the UVSI Foundation, this year’s event was held at the US Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. The final result was announced on August 6.
The advanced robot with artificial intelligence made by the students of BRAC University had to fight for a month to achieve this success. Besides carrying out rescue work by reaching the bottom of the river, the ‘BracU Duburi’ can also conduct research if necessary.
Singaporean team ‘Bumble Bee’ has won the best award in this competition. University of Alberta became third.
It is worth noting that, in 2018, under the supervision of three teachers of BRAC University including Associate Professor Khalilur Rahman of Computer Science and Engineering Department of BRAC University, a group of students of Computer Science and Electrical and Electronic Engineering departments invented the ‘BRACU Duburi’.
And his student Mahfuzul Haque, one of the members of this team, said, ‘Four people worked on this project in the beginning. Many of the members have completed their university life and entered the professional life. As a result, newcomers have joined the project. Currently our team members are around 40. The robot runs fully automatically without any remote controlling device.
Participating in the 17th BASIS Soft Expo-2023 at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Center in Eastern Dhaka, another member said, ‘In many cases, people and launches are lost in the depths of the river due to boat accidents. It is not possible for ordinary divers to go to those depths. The matter becomes quite risky. In this case ‘BracU Duburi’ will play an effective role. Besides, this automated underwater robot will help in coral research in the deep sea.