Prospectus
Exploring and surveying the world around us with custom-made autonomous robots.
2026 / 2027
What the club does
ANU Exploration Robotics is a student-run club operating in Canberra. Our focus is on the exploration and surveying of the world around us through the use of custom-made, autonomous robots. To accommodate this goal, we enter competitions on the world stage, allowing us and our robots to gain experience that can be used on sustainable initiatives.
Membership is open to students of any year level and any discipline, and no prior robotics experience is required.
Initial goals
To make a submarine for the RobotX RoboSub competition, and complete as many tasks in the competition as possible.
RoboSub
RoboSub is an international student competition run by RoboNation and held annually in the United States. Teams build autonomous underwater vehicles that complete a course of tasks with no operator input and no tether once the vehicle is released. Tasks include navigating gates, identifying and localising objects by computer vision, homing on acoustic pingers, and releasing markers. Teams are also assessed on a technical design report and a design presentation.
Prototype 1.0
Prototype 1.0 is a tethered underwater vehicle controlled by an operator from an offboard computer. It is the foundation for a competition vehicle rather than an entry in itself, and is required to meet the following.
| ID | Requirement | Verification |
|---|---|---|
| R-01 | Move under control in surge, heave through buoyancy control, and yaw, with passively stable roll and pitch. | Demonstration |
| R-02 | Remain watertight to a depth of 2.1 metres, being 20.6 kPa. | Test |
| R-03 | Sit within 0.5 per cent of neutral buoyancy when shut off. | Test |
| R-04 | Run on battery power, with variable control of acceleration and velocity. | Demonstration |
| R-05 | Carry a clear and accessible propulsion kill switch at the stern. | Test |
| R-06 | Allow major components to be accessed or replaced without redesign. | Inspection |
| R-07 | Leave provision for later autonomy, sensing and task mechanisms. | Inspection |
Timeline
Requirements review
Preliminary design review
Critical design review
Implementation and assembly
Test readiness review
Pool trials and verification
Validation and closeout
RoboSub target cycle
Future directions
Although our current goals align with submarine development for the RobotX RoboSub competition, in the future we are looking forward to expanding our design principles into other design projects and different vehicles. These future projects would include:
Marine reef and wildlife conservation
We hope to explore the use of robotics to observe and map ocean wildlife. Robotics of this kind can have a tremendous impact on the conservation of coral reef systems and wildlife populations through monitoring and scanning them.
The UAV Challenge: Outback Rescue
An Australian competition in which an autonomous aircraft must locate a stranded person, represented by a mannequin known as Outback Joe, and complete a retrieval or delivery task. Entering would take the club beyond underwater vehicles into aerial systems, drawing on the same work in autonomy, perception and vehicle design.
Depth project
An attempt at a depth record for a vehicle designed and built entirely by undergraduates. The engineering sits in pressure housing design, seal and penetrator selection, and structural analysis at depths far beyond anything a pool can be used to test, which makes analysis and proof testing the whole of the problem.
Sponsorship benefits
The club is funded through the university, member contributions and external support. Sponsorship goes toward thrusters and motor controllers, seals and hull penetrators, enclosure machining and 3D printing, batteries and power management, cameras and sensing, embedded compute, tether and connectors, and pool hire for testing.
Support in kind is as useful to us as cash. Components, machining or fabrication time, workshop access and technical mentoring all contribute directly to the build. Sponsors receive the following.
Logo on the sub
Placement on the hull of the vehicle, subject to available surface area and, where the vehicle is entered in a competition, to the rules of that competition.
Logo on our website
Placement on the supporters section of the club website for the duration of the sponsorship.
Invitations to our meetings and events
Sponsors are welcome at club meetings, design reviews and pool trials, and are invited to the events we run through the year.
Features on our social media and videos
Promotion across our social media posts and video content, including build logs and footage from testing and competition.
The scale of placement and any further arrangements are agreed directly, and we are glad to discuss what would suit a particular organisation.
All sponsorships are accepted on the condition that they align with the club's values, academic integrity and commitment to safe practice, and with university policy. The club operates independently of any commercial entity and under the governance of university policies and student club regulations.
ANU Exploration Robotics
[Room / building], Australian National University,
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
- General enquiries
- [club email]
- President
- [president email]
- Secretary
- [secretary email]
- Treasurer
- [treasurer email]
- Website
- [website]