The Rector with the ITS leadership and the ITS Barunastra team during the ship demonstration and the Barunastra team’s release at the 2025 IRC event in the US

ITS Campus, ITS News — The leading maritime robotics team of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Barunastra, will again show themselves in the 2025 International Roboboat Competition (IRC) in Florida, United States. Carrying a more reliable ship system, the ship named Nala Ares was officially launched at the ITS Plaza dr Angka, Friday (2/21).

The autonomous ship, which was inaugurated directly by ITS Rector Prof. Ir. Bambang Pramujati ST MSc Eng PhD, will compete in a prestigious competition that will take place on March 3-9. Having successfully won the overall championship five times in a row, this ship made by Barunastra ITS was designed to be able to complete existing maritime challenges and win the world championship for the sixth time in the IRC 2025 event.

On this occasion, Bambang expressed his support for the Barunastra team that will represent Indonesia in the world-scale event. According to him, this competition also provides an opportunity for students to strive to contribute to the development of maritime technology.

Demonstration of the Nala Ares ship made by the ITS Barunastra team while demonstrating the waterblast mission which will be competed in the 2025 IRC event

Presenting various innovations, Nala Ares has been designed to face challenges on maritime routes in the autonomy challenge category. In this mission, the ship created by a team of students from various disciplines was designed to be able to complete tasks to train agility and endurance, such as ship motion simulations, rescue missions and exploration quickly.

In overcoming the competition mission, Barunastra ITS General Manager Taib Izzat Samawi revealed that Nala Ares has undergone an update on the ship’s hull which uses carbon fiber material and is equipped with an x-drive and azimuth system. “This makes the ship’s movement lighter and more flexible when maneuvering through water obstacles,” added the student from the ITS Informatics Engineering Department.

ITS Rector Prof Ir Bambang Pramujati ST MSc Eng PhD delivering his remarks at the Launching of the Nala Ares ship and the release of the ITS Barunastra Team to compete in the US

Furthermore, the electrical system in the ship’s design also managed to achieve significant renewal. Taib explained that Nala Ares applied two main Printed Circuit Board (PCB) systems, namely the Power PCB and the Controller PCB which were able to optimize the ship’s performance. The electrical design can also increase space efficiency, modularity and facilitate the ship’s maintenance process.

In addition to the technical aspects, Nala Ares also uses a simpler software architecture system to increase the efficiency of program communication in the computer. Taib added that his team used a perception module that was able to receive and process information to be able to complete the mission. “That helps in the system integration process to take the right action,” he added.

ITS Barunastra General Manager Taib Izzat Samawi explaining the development of the electrical system on the Nala Ares ship which will compete in the 2025 IRC event

In preparing for the IRC 2025 event, the ITS Barunastra team has gone through various stages from concept development to trials. The Assistant of the Intelligent Computing and Vision Laboratory admitted that he was optimistic about being able to bring back the overall champion title at the IRC 2025 event. “Through these preparations, we hope to bring satisfactory results for ITS and the Indonesian nation,” he said hopefully. (ITS PUBLIC RELATIONS)

Reporter: Hani Aqilah Safitri