Abu Dhabi hosts UAV and USV technology challenge
The MBZIRC Maritime Grand Challenge seeks to find solutions to autonomous technology problems. (Photo: ASPIRE)
The MBZIRC Maritime Grand Challenge 2023 will assess swarming drone technology in GNSS-denied environments.
Abu Dhabi-based technology research organisation ASPIRE announced the 2023 Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) Maritime Grand Challenge on 28 September to explore real-time solutions to maritime safety and security challenges.
The competition has a prize fund of more than $3 million.
The Grand Challenge is held every two years and aims to foster innovation and technical excellence in robotics, by taking technology out of the laboratory and into the field.
This time, the competition will involve a ‘heterogeneous collaboration among unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs] and unmanned surface vehicles [USVs]’, ASPIRE noted, in order to identify a target vessel from several similar vessels in open waters in a GNSS-denied environment, and to offload specific items from the target onto a USV in the shortest possible time using autonomous technologies.
Dr Arthur Morrish, chief executive of ASPIRE, described this as a new kind of kind of exercise in autonomous robotics.
More from Defence Notes
-
![Why small guns have been critical to layered CUAS architectures]()
Why small guns have been critical to layered CUAS architectures
Multiple countries have been deploying small arms as the last line of drone defence due to their multiple operational and tactical advantages.
-
![Singapore Airshow 2026: ST Engineering hints at export success for AME assault rifle family]()
Singapore Airshow 2026: ST Engineering hints at export success for AME assault rifle family
The Singapore-based technology company unveiled its new rifle family at this week’s airshow. Chen Chuanren spoke with the ST Engineering’s head of small arms to find out more about how the weapons have been refined.
-
![High tension in the High North – a wake-up call for NATO’s future Arctic defence efforts?]()
High tension in the High North – a wake-up call for NATO’s future Arctic defence efforts?
Any potential ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission would be months in the planning, but with tensions high in the region given the US’s push for Greenland, NATO countries will need to continue to emphasise their commitment to the region, analysts have said.
-
![Venezuela prepares personnel and equipment for a potential second US attack]()
Venezuela prepares personnel and equipment for a potential second US attack
Defence Minister Gen Vladimir Padrino López has declared that the Venezuelan armed forces “will continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defence”.
-
![As the new year starts, the UK defence spending delay continues]()
As the new year starts, the UK defence spending delay continues
The UK’s defence spending commitments remain uncertain as the government’s Defence Investment Plan, which had been due by the end of 2025, is yet to be published.
