Autonomous boats at Gölcük Naval Shipyard
Within TEKNOFEST Mavi Vatan, the Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) competition at Gölcük Naval Shipyard has concluded. The event was led by the Ministry of National Defense and T3 Foundation, with ASELSAN and ASFAT as technical organizers. Teams of associate, undergraduate, master’s and PhD students from Turkey and abroad competed with their own USV designs.
On the final day, teams launched their fully functional autonomous boats and ran them through several water courses. In the so‑called “kamikaze mission”, each USV had to perform fully autonomous navigation, avoid obstacles and, based on a predefined color parameter, locate, approach and physically touch the target of that color. A total of 3 courses were prepared; to be considered successful, teams had to complete at least 2 courses. In the end, 12 teams met the criteria, 6 of them finishing all three. Two of these six ran coordinated missions with UAVs, demonstrating multi‑domain autonomy.
Custom hardware and open‑source mindset
The “Best Team Spirit” award went to GÖKE-PRUVA TEAM_GM USV, a 10‑person group with 6 software engineers, 3 mechanical engineers and one academic advisor. Their project started about 9 months ago, combining sponsorship management with intensive design and integration work.
The “Best Design” award was claimed by MGM Navaris. They designed the hull, mechanical structure and all internal electronics boards themselves, aiming for a high local content ratio and planning to enter more international competitions while continuing at TEKNOFEST.
The “Most Original Software” award went to Farabi GM AquaTech. Their team built a fully custom ground control station, using the T3 Foundation’s Deneyap Kart as the core of the control unit, and designed their own transmitter and receiver hardware. They emphasize publishing their work as open‑source, noting that despite competition between teams, everyone is ultimately contributing to the country’s technological future.
Source: AA Bilim-Teknoloji
