What looks like a small, sleek catamaran gliding across the water is actually a smart and adaptable research platform—just 1.1 meters long and packed with potential.
These compact surface vessels are delivered with remote-control capabilities, but they’re designed to be modular and open—ideal foundations for the development of intelligent, autonomous systems.
The Autodocking25 project was initiated by Professors Damiano Varagnolo and Rudolf Mester, who recognized the potential of using these vessels as platforms for AI-driven research. They were immediately joined by colleagues Edmund Brekke, Annette Stahl, and Morten Breivik from Engineering Cybernetics, forming a strong team of academic leaders for the project—an interdisciplinary initiative focused on autonomy and artificial intelligence on water.
Today, fifteen students from the Departments of Engineering Cybernetics and Computer Science are working together to equip the vessels with advanced perception, decision-making, and mission capabilities—enabling full autonomy in real-world maritime environments.
The student team is organized into three core groups:
Together, they are building an AI system capable of understanding its surroundings, making intelligent decisions, and acting safely in dynamic conditions.
Each vessel is equipped with:
Sensor data is processed in real time by AI algorithms that detect obstacles, interpret the environment, and plan paths accordingly.
A key objective of the project is autonomous docking—safely and precisely guiding a vessel back to its docking point after completing a mission, avoiding both static and dynamic obstacles.
With every test run, the system becomes more robust, intelligent, and autonomous. This hands-on journey combines robotics, artificial intelligence, and maritime systems—driven by students, supported by research, and inspired by real-world challenges.
The next project phase runs from fall 2025 to summer 2026. Preproject and MSc thesis topics for this phase are included in Prof. Rudolf Mester’s list of topic proposals, or in the ITK topic database for students from the Department of Engineering Cybernetics (ITK).
Students who are interested in joining the project are strongly encouraged to contact the academic supervisors early to discuss their interests and secure a place in the team.