Dong-A University Students Receive 'Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award' at Autonomous Boat Competition

Students from the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Dong-A University won the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award and other honors at the 4th Autonomous Boat Competition (KABOAT 2023).

Hosted by the Korean Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers, the competition was held at Masan Robot Land in Gyeongnam, with 31 teams from 19 universities nationwide competing in six categories.

The Dong-A University Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Department’s ‘OpenDEP Team’ achieved first place in the overall score and received the Advanced Convergence Technology Award (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award).

The ‘OpenDEP Team’ also won the ‘Best Design Award (President of the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering Award)’ in the comprehensive design category, first place in the tournament remote category (Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Award), first place in the comprehensive mission alignment category (Hanwha Ocean CEO Award), and first place in the comprehensive mission random category (Hanwha Ocean CEO Award).

Additionally, they secured second place in the comprehensive mission image sensing category and passed the comprehensive mission hopping category (Organizing Committee Chair Award).

The ‘OpenDEP Team’ noted that their achievement is even more meaningful as they conducted tests in a short period using the university’s artificial pond temporarily instead of the necessary provisional test tank, demonstrating excellent results despite challenging conditions.

Students from the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, who achieved first place overall at the 4th Autonomous Boat Competition (KABOAT 2023), are taking a group commemorative photo.

Team leader student An Junbeom said, “I was worried because the competition was more difficult this year, but I am very happy to have achieved better results than last year. I believe the good outcome was due to each team member performing their roles well in hull design, GPS, LiDAR, and camera.”

He added, “As autonomous navigation becomes increasingly important in the shipbuilding industry, competition in the contest is getting fiercer. I am very proud that our school consistently achieves good results. I expect that with support such as provisional test tanks, we will continue to achieve excellent outcomes.”

The Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Dong-A University has been a strong contender in the nationwide KABOAT competition, having won the overall championship once and runner-up twice in the four editions held so far, continuing to receive multiple awards every year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.