Est. 2015 — Delhi Technological University

Diving Into
The Unknown

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01WHO WE ARE

Engineering Autonomy
Beneath the Waves

DTU AUV is the premier autonomous underwater vehicle team at Delhi Technological University. Founded in 2015, we design, build, and program fully autonomous submarines that navigate, detect, and interact with underwater environments — without any human intervention.

Our multidisciplinary team of 40+ students spans mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science, and design — united by a shared passion for marine robotics.

AUV Underwater
40+ Team Members
4 AUVs Built
8+ Years Active
6+ Competitions
02COMPETITIONS

Where We Compete

We test our robots against the best teams on the planet — in the pool and in open water.

RoboSub

San Diego, USA

The world's largest international AUV competition organized by RoboNation. Teams design AUVs to autonomously navigate an underwater obstacle course — gate traversal, buoy detection, torpedo launching, and object retrieval. DTU AUV competes against 50+ teams from top universities worldwide.

Autonomous Navigation Computer Vision Object Manipulation

SAUVC

Singapore

Asia's premier AUV challenge. Teams complete tasks including visual navigation, target acquisition, and acoustic localization — all in a real-world pool environment with challenging visibility. DTU AUV has consistently placed among the top contenders.

Acoustic Localization Target Acquisition Real-World Testing

NIOT SAVe

Chennai, India

India's national-level AUV competition organized by the National Institute of Ocean Technology. A crucial platform for Indian teams to test vehicles in controlled marine conditions and benchmark domestically.

National Level Marine Testing Autonomous Tasks
03SUBSYSTEMS

How We Build

Mechanical

Hull design, thruster integration, waterproof enclosures, and hydrodynamic optimization — all engineered to survive depths up to 5 meters. We use SolidWorks and ANSYS for simulation-driven design.

SolidWorksANSYS3D Printing

Electronics

Power distribution, motor drivers, sensor fusion boards, and custom PCBs that form the vehicle's nervous system.

KiCadSTM32

Software

ROS-based autonomous stack with PID controllers and state-machine task planners for real-time control.

ROS2Python

AI & Vision

Deep learning models for underwater object detection (YOLO, OpenCV), path planning algorithms, and real-time decision making under constrained visibility and compute conditions.

YOLOOpenCVPyTorchTensorRT
04LEADERSHIP

Who Runs DTU AUV

Faculty Advisor

Guided by experienced faculty from DTU's Mechanical and Electrical departments, providing mentorship on design, fabrication, and competition strategy.

Team Captain

Oversees all operations — from project timelines and subsystem coordination to competition logistics and team recruitment.

Subsystem Leads

Each subsystem — Mechanical, Electronics, Software, and AI — is headed by a dedicated lead who manages their vertical's design, development, and testing.

05OUR JOURNEY

Milestones

2015

Team Founded

DTU AUV was established by a group of passionate engineering students at Delhi Technological University.

2017

LAPRAS 1.0 — First AUV

Designed and built our very first underwater vehicle, laying the foundation for all future iterations.

2018

First International Competition

Competed at RoboSub in San Diego, gaining invaluable experience against world-class teams.

2019

LAPRAS 2.0 & SAUVC

Launched our second-generation AUV and expanded to the Singapore AUV Challenge.

2022

ARKAJA 2.0

A leap in design — modular architecture, improved thrusters, and an advanced vision pipeline.

2024

VARUNA 3.0 & Beyond

Our latest vehicle — AI-powered navigation, acoustic localization, and a fully custom electronics stack.

JOIN US

Want to join the mission?

We recruit passionate engineers every year. Whether you code, design, solder, or strategize — there's a place for you.

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