SAUVC 2026

Competition

Autonomous underwater robotics is an exciting challenge in engineering, which participants get to experience at SAUVC. The competition is great learning ground for participants to experience the challenges of AUV system engineering and develop skills in the related fields of mechanical, electrical and software engineering.
Mentorship

Participants will have access to mentors and support. Teams will be assigned liaisons who will be able to provide mentorship and technical guidance as the teams work on designing and building their AUVs. SAUVC emphasises outreach, learning and skill development and we want to ensure everyone learns and grows through the course of SAUVC.
Guest speakers

The competition will also feature workshops and lectures from world renowned experts in the field of marine robotics and autonomous underwater systems to inspire participants with new ideas and techniques to solve challenges and build an interest in careers related to marine robotics.
Get-together

The competition is also about meeting others like us, who are also interested in underwater robotics and autonomous systems, to get to know one another, to share ideas and make connections.

SAUVC 2026 Short-listed Teams

Team ID	Team Name	Institute	Location
AU-05	Manta Claus	University of New South Wales	Australia
AU-08	sUNSWim	University of New South Wales	Australia
CN-113	边际领域 EXNOTSMART	Dalian University of Technology	China
CN-116	CangMing (沧溟)	Harbin Engineering University	China
CN-50	ELectronic Vision AUV	Harbin Engineering University	China
CN-55	AquaSeekers	Naval University of Engineering	China
CN-77	WaterDrifter	Harbin Engineering University	China
CN-81	Three Water	South China University of Technology	China
CN-85	Deep-Dive Intelligence	South China University of Technology	China
CN-88	GuangJiao Brigade	Guangzhou Maritime University	China
CN-91	T-Group	Northwestern Polytechnical University	China
CN-94	SmartNav Deep Dive Team	Nanhai Institute of Harbin Engineering University	China
HK-23	BakingBread	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
ID-107	Subnautic Rimau	Universitas Sriwijaya	Indonesia
ID-24	TECH_SAS	Telkom University	Indonesia
ID-25	FIToplankton	Telkom University	Indonesia
ID-35	BARELANG MARINE ROBOTICS TEAM-BUTTERBOT	Batam State Polytechnic	Indonesia
ID-36	BARELANG MARINE ROBOTICS TEAM-OCTOBOT	Batam State Polytechnic	Indonesia
ID-37	Narwhal AUV	Universitas Gadjah Mada	Indonesia
ID-64	CURVe	Politeknik Negeri Bandung	Indonesia
ID-82	N-AUV 3.2 (N7-AUV)	Bogor Agricultural University	Indonesia
ID-83	N-AUV 4 (N8-AUV)	Bogor Agricultural University	Indonesia
ID-87	Amarine	Universitas Brawijaya	Indonesia
ID-92	SeaDiver	Universitas Negeri Surabaya	Indonesia
ID-93	Orca	Gadjah Mada University	Indonesia
IN-38	Team Chinmaya	Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth	India
IN-01	AUVMEC	Mahindra University	India
IN-02	TEAM NIRMA AUV	NIRMA UNIVERSITY	India
IN-04	HydroHeroes	Muthoot Institute of Technology and Science	India
IN-111	Poseidon	Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology (ZHCET), Aligarh Muslim University(AMU)	India
IN-112	Team VAUV	Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore	India
IN-20	Team Tiburon	National Institute of Technology, Rourkela	India
IN-32	KURMA	Indian Institute of Technology - Roorkee	India
IN-34	Aritra	Indian Institute of Technology Madras	India
IN-41	Brahmputra	Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya	India
IN-61	Dreadnought Robotics	Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai	India
IN-73	Team Nira	Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram	India
IN-90	Team Utkarsh	Ganpat University - U.V. Patel College Of Engineering	India
LK-31	Team DIYAKAWA	University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka
LK-48	Diyathra	University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka
MY-26	UTM OCEANVISION	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia	Malaysia
MY-30	MoyKay	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai	Malaysia
RU-14	Hydronautics	Bauman Moscow State Technical University	Russia
SG-07	Mecatron	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
SG-27	Aquanox	Singapore polytechnic	Singapore
TR-09	CALROV	Cagaloglu Anatolian High School	Turkiye
TR-110	1.5 ADANA SGM AITO	Cukurova University	Turkiye
TR-17	Alesta	Adana Science High School	Turkiye
TR-68	ATK ROV	ÖZEL TEKNOLOJİ AFYONKARAHİSAR ORGANİZE SANAYİ BÖLGESİ MESLEKİ VE TEKNİK ANADOLU LİSESİ	Turkiye
TR-98	MYS YILDIRIM	Selcuk University	Turkiye
TR-99	MYS ABDÜLHAMİD	Selcuk University	Turkiye
TW-16	ORCA AUV	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University	Taiwan

Competition

The SAUVC competition challenges participant teams to build an AUV which can perform given tasks. These tasks are simulations of tasks operational AUVs would have to be able to perform. The competition is held in a swimming pool and each team's AUV will have to perform 4 tasks. The speed and accuracy at which the AUV performs tasks will be used to decide the winner of the competition.

The tasks involve four widely faced challenges underwater such as AUV navigation, visual identification, acoustic localization and robotic manipulation.

Detailed explanation of the various tasks of the competition and rules are in the Rulebook v6.0.0.

Detailed explanation of the various tasks of the competition and rules will be published shortly.

The competition is open to participants from all over the world. A team may consist of up to 11 participants including faculty supervisors. At least half of the participants must be non-professionals (students, hobbyists, hackerspace members, etc) at the time of registration.

Travel

Flying in

The Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX) is your gateway to SAUVC Sanya. Conveniently located about 15 kilometers from downtown Sanya, the airport offers excellent connectivity with domestic and international destinations. You'll find a variety of ground transportation options including taxis, ride-hailing services, airport shuttles, and hotel transfers to reach your accommodations and the conference venue with ease.
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Alternative Airports

While Sanya Phoenix International Airport is the primary choice, there are alternative airports that may suit your travel plans. (1) Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK), Located approximately 3.5 hours from Sanya by high-speed rail or car, Haikou serves as another major international gateway to Hainan Island. (2) Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), For some travelers, flying into Hong Kong and then connecting to Sanya via a short direct flight (about 1.5 hours) may be a convenient option. Whether you're flying directly into Sanya or connecting through another major hub, getting to the SAUVC 2026 host city is straightforward and well-supported by multiple travel options.
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Visa

Refer to this link for information. For invitation letters, teams can approach the committee who will direct them to the Sanya local organizing committee to obtain invite letters. This will be done after teams are short-listed (based on video) to attend the competition.
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Get Around

By Ride-Hailing or Hotel Shuttle- Popular apps such as Didi Chuxing (China's version of Uber) operate in Sanya and provide direct service from the airport to the venue. By bus- Sanya has over sixty bus routes, operating from around 06:00 to 23:00. The ticket prices follow a distance-based fare system. In addition, there are many privately-operated shuttle buses.
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About us

Luyuan

Chair / Technical Committee / Administration / Publicity
Ercan

Co-chair / Technical Committee
Wu Lan

Chair
Esther

Secretary / Communications (E-mail) / Administration
Wu Xiaonan

Secretary
Hari

Technical Committee / Judge / Communications (E-mail) / Administration / Publicity
Rajat

Technical Committee Chair / Judge
Mandar

Technical Committee
Bharath

Technical Committee / Judge
Chinmay

Technical Committee / Webmaster
Chen Hao

Technical Committee
Venugopalan

Sponsorship
Ken

Slot Master / Sponsorship
Sharadha

Social Media & Publicity
Pengkun

Social Media & Publicity / Slot Master
Gao Lufan

Publicity
Kexin

Treasurer
Yin Xuefei

Treasurer
Zhong Ziliang

Logistics
Su Taowu

Logistics