Aritra, an IIT Madras student team, finished third internationally and earned the Sustainability Award in the Njord Challenge 2023, which was recently sponsored by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras students received a financial reward of 10,000 NOK (Norwegian Krone) for their achievement. The competition is open to students and aims to encourage innovation and smart autonomous solutions for the marine area. In addition, the tournament provides students with the chance for professional growth and networking. This time, seven elite international teams competed, including one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. Team Aritra at IIT Madras is made up of four students from the Department of Ocean Engineering's Marine Autonomous Vessels (MAV) Laboratory. M. Mohammed Ibrahim, Amarnath Singh, Akash Vijayakumar and Rakshin Ramesh.
They were supervised by Dr. Abhilash Sharma Somayajula and Prof. MA Atmanand of IIT Madras. Prabhakaran Jay and Vallabh Deogaonkar from the MAV Laboratory also assisted the team. The autonomous surface ships were tested in three areas: the ability to autonomously navigate in a channel marked by navigational buoys, the ability to dock the vessel autonomously, and the ability to detect and avoid dynamic obstacles while adhering to waterway rules (also known as COLREGS). Njord - Autonomous Ship Challenge is an international student competition in which contestants must design and construct an autonomous ship. Teams are encouraged to bring their vessels to the fjord of Trondheim to compete in a number of tasks and competitions."An opportunity exists for Indian industry." and startups to take this up on a commercial basis under the ‘Make in India’ program of the Government of India.
