ITS Barunastra team successfully maintains the grand champion for the 5th time at the International Roboboat Competition 2023 in Florida

ITS Campus, ITS News – The Barunastra Team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) makes proud of the alma mater and Indonesian nation in international arena. By having their own willpower, ITS roboboat team managed to hold the title of 1st place for the 5th time at the prestigious International Roboboat Competition (IRC) 2023 in Sarasota, Florida, United States.

Performing the latest roboboat named Nala Proteus, ITS Barunastra team wins two awards at once in this international scale event. These awards are the 1st Grand Champion and the 2nd Place Design Documentation International Roboboat Competition 2023. Amazingly, these awards were obtained by ITS Barunastra after competing with 24 teams from various countries, including one of the famous campuses,Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the United States.

According to Fariz Rayyan Januar, who is also General Manager of Barunastra ITS 2023, there are two categories at the competition this time. The first is the autonomous category to assess how capable the boat is moving automatically and the second is the design documentation category.

One of ITS Barunastra Team members releases the Nala Proteus boat at the International Roboboat Competition 2023 race arena in Florida, USA

Several stages must be passed in the design documentation category, such as design report, team video, and offline presentation in front of local judges. In offline presentation, participants are asked to explain various things about the roboboat that will be performed later, starting from the strategy, the design used, to how the boat is made and works.

Furthermore, Rayyan also explained the competition mechanism in the autonomous category. Like other competitions, the team under Dr. Rudy Dikairono ST MT, Muhammad Lukman Hakim ST MT, and Muhtadin ST MT needs to undergo three rounds in this category, which are qualifications, semifinals, and finals.

“In these three stages, we (the participants) were given eight missions, and in order to pass the qualification round, we need to complete at least three missions,” said Rayyan.

The Nala Proteus boat from ITS Barunastra Team executes the missions given at the International Roboboat Competition (IRC) 2023 in Florida, USA

After passing the qualification round, the student from Shipping System Engineering Department continued that the participants who passed the round would undergo a standings system assessment to advance the next round. “The same assessment system and mission are also applied in the final round, but with more strict system,” he added. Besides, Rayyan also expects that ITS Barunastra Team can make even higher achievements in the future. “One of them is by having participation in the RobotX Competition, a larger scale and more sophisticated technology competition,” he said.

ITS Barunastra Team, with their newest boat, Nala Proteus, prepares for the competition in Florida, USA

At the end of the interview, Rayyan represents ITS Barunastra Team to express his gratitude to all parties such as PT PLN, PT Pertamina Patra Niaga, PT Meratus, PT Airfast Indonesia, PT Harbour Energy, PT PN X, PT Bukit Asam, and PT Petrokimia Gresik which have supported and contributed to help them participating at IRC 2023. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Muhammad Fadhil Alfaruqi