BRAC University’s autonomous underwater robotics team, BRACU Duburi, secured eighth place among 58 teams at RoboSub 2026 despite visa setbacks, equipment damage, an onboard computer failure and illness among its members.

The result was the highest overall finish among the three Bangladeshi teams participating in this year’s competition.

RoboSub, one of the world’s most prestigious autonomous underwater robotics competitions, is organised annually by RoboNation in the United States.

Held over four days at the Woollett Aquatics Centre in Irvine, California, RoboSub 2026 brought together 58 selected teams from leading universities and research institutions worldwide.

BRACU Duburi finished ahead of teams from several globally renowned universities, including Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University and Duke University, highlighting Bangladesh’s growing presence in autonomous underwater robotics on the international stage.

Alongside its performance in the in-water missions, BRACU Duburi achieved strong results in several technical evaluation categories.

The team secured sixth place in the Technical Presentation, 11th place in the Technical Design Report and 12th place in the Team Video evaluation, reflecting the strength of its engineering design, technical communication and project presentation.

The team’s campaign, however, was marked by several unexpected setbacks.

Four members were unable to travel after failing to obtain US visas. Several critical components, including a thruster, claw mechanism, and torpedo mount, were damaged during transport from Bangladesh.

The team also experienced the failure of an onboard computer, while two members fell ill during the competition.

Despite the challenges, the six-member delegation remained determined throughout the four-day event and ultimately secured eighth place on the global stage.

The result is particularly significant given the increasing competitiveness of RoboSub in recent years. Competing against some of the world’s strongest robotics teams, BRACU Duburi once again demonstrated the ability of Bangladeshi students to perform at the highest level of international engineering and robotics competitions.

The Bangladesh delegation comprised Abid as Team Leader, with Adnan, Annur and Fahim serving as Co-Team Leaders. Shoummo and Ratul completed the travelling team.

Four other members — Rakibul, Yaad, Tahirah and Sakib — played important roles in the research, design and development of the autonomous underwater vehicles throughout the season but were unable to attend the competition because of visa-related issues.

The team was accompanied by its adviser, Professor Dr Md Khalilur Rhaman.

Since its establishment in 2017, BRACU Duburi has represented Bangladesh at several international underwater robotics competitions.

The team received the Best Rookie Team Award at RoboSub 2022, finished as world runner-up and received the Ingenuity Award at RoboSub 2023, and secured a top-eight global finish along with the Best Entrepreneurship Award at RoboSub 2025.

Looking ahead, the team plans to strengthen its research in autonomous underwater robotics by advancing communication systems, underwater navigation, artificial intelligence and intelligent vision technologies.

Through continued innovation and engineering research, BRACU Duburi aims to contribute to the development of Bangladesh’s marine technology ecosystem while preparing for future international competitions.