Singapore AUV Challenge 2026 held in Sanya city

Moment of truth: Participants operate their underwater vehicle during the Singapore AUV Challenge 2026. [Photo/Sanya Daily]

Hunt for glitches: Participants debug equipment during the competition. [Photo/Sanya Daily]

The Singapore Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Challenge 2026 was held in the high-tech zone of Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, located in Sanya city in China's southernmost Hainan province, on May 28-31.

The event featured 200 participants from 27 teams who hailed from eight countries and regions, including China, Australia, Singapore and India.

Now in its 10th edition, the Singapore AUV Challenge 2026 is a parallel event of OCEANS 2026, drawing participants from 25 countries and regions. It stands as Asia's largest and most influential underwater robotics competition.

This year saw record-breaking participation, with 118 teams registering and over 900 competitors signing up. After a rigorous selection process, 27 teams from eight countries and regions competed on-site, totaling 200 competitors.

The contest centers on cutting-edge technologies in marine robotics and underwater intelligent systems.

It tests the core capabilities of AUVs — including autonomous sensing, navigation, target recognition, mission execution and underwater communications.

The challenges simulate real-world applications like underwater inspections and target searches, focusing on tasks such as navigating underwater gates and executing communications commands with colored markers.

The goal is to evaluate the teams' skills in system integration, intelligent control, autonomous decision-making and practical engineering in complex underwater environments.

The event aims to drive innovation and commercialization in underwater robotics — particularly in sensing, navigation, communications and autonomous operations.

Hosted by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Singapore, the competition was co-organized by the National University of Singapore and the Sanya Nanhai Innovation and Development Base of Harbin Engineering University.