The 2024 Tau Autonomy Centre Challenge

Prof. John R. Potter, NTNU, Fellow IEEE

Chances are, you’ve not heard of the Tau Autonomy Centre Challenge (TAC Challenge), or even of Tau, a small region in the southwest of Norway, just NE of the heart of the Norwegian offshore oil and gas operations centre of Stavanger, where there is an impressive ecosystem of marine technology developers and operators.

Norwegians are a strong, independent people who, over centuries (some might say millennia) have learnt how to operate efficiently and effectively in the harsh environments of the North and Norwegian Seas, and who have developed a broad and in-depth offshore operations capability in the exploration and development of their offshore hydrocarbon industry over the last 50 years.  There is much to be learnt from them and perhaps there is also something to be gained in them engaging more with the international ocean engineering scene via OES.  Thus, I felt both excited and privileged to be invited as an observer and guest judge for the TAC Challenge, a Norwegian ROV/AUV competition for students, this last June.

The competition is open to student teams from all over the world to bring their vehicles to compete in three practical tasks, two of which are in the natural open waters of the Tau Autonomy Centre facilities, and one in a freshwater pool.  They also have to submit a written report of their technical approach and present their work to judges, both of which elements count towards their final score.

The practical challenges are representative of real-life tasks.  The pool task requires the vehicle to move towards, and land on, a platform on the pool bottom.  Points are awarded for accuracy and the ability to connect wirelessly with an inductive puck, with bonus points for autonomous capabilities rather than piloted.

The at-sea tasks are particularly interesting, as they offer a realistic environment with turbidity, currents, waves and the hazards of stirring up sediment, etc.  One task requires the vehicle to locate a pipeline and to follow it, reading printed codes posted along its length, and identifying which end is the starting point, by recognising an acoustic pinger.

The other at-sea task mimics operating a seabed control station, with valves to turn and code plaques to be located and read from many different angles and surfaces on the platform, some obscured by gratings or other obstructions.  Again, bonus points are awarded for all capabilities that can be demonstrated to be autonomous.  An interesting feature is that the launch and recovery of the vehicle, by chain hoist over the quay side, and the time spent orienting the vehicle and having it find the underwater task area is included in the teams’ operational trial window of 30 minutes.

This year 12 teams, consisting of 150 students, participated from India, Norway, Poland and Turkey.  This compares with 5 teams and 60 students the previous year.  The teams came from both University and High Schools.  They must design, develop and deploy their own vehicle.  As might be expected, there is a wide range of technical competence, experience, sponsorship funding and complexity across the different teams.  One thing all the teams had in common, though, was a fantastic enthusiasm and positive spirit, helping each other out when they could, innovating and problem-solving on the fly with remarkable agility.  It helps the sense of communal team spirit that all the teams are housed in a local hostel nearby, where they share meals and recreational spaces.

This kind of competition cannot survive without its sponsors, of course. In this, the TAC organisers are blessed with a consortium of offshore technology manufacturers and operators, many of whom contribute to maintaining the Tau Autonomy Centre where the competition is held and who provide access to these wonderful facilities for the competition.  It is the realistic nature of the testing environment which, in my mind, sets the TAC apart from similar competitions elsewhere.

But organising such an event takes more than sponsorhip.  It needs a ‘torch-bearer’ to invest their time and enthusiasm into the project.  In the case of TAC, the key person is Truls Munch-Ellingsen, an NTNU graduate and now CTO at Stinger Technology AS, who were a core sponsor of TAC.  Stinger were joined by Equinor, Total Energies, Saab Technology, Subsea USB, NOSEFO, Tekna, BlueRobotics as co-sponsors of the event.  Not too shabby a list in the ocean engineering world!  Local support was provided by Strand and Stavanger Kommune.

Many of the Norwegian marine technology companies belong to a distinctly Norwegian association, the Forening for Fjernstyrt Undervannsteknologi (FFU) that gives them a national platform.  The FFU is a major player and supporter of TAC, but perhaps there is value in exploring whether OES could join and contribute, providing a more international network and at the same time opening up opportunities to grow OES membership.

The 2024 competition lasted for 5 days in total, with the first two days devoted to teams’ build up and integration of the inductive pucks into their systems.  This was followed by 2 days’ of competition on the three practical tasks and technical presentation.  The final day was organised around social activities, including a fantastic hike to Preikestolen rock, overlooking Lysefjord  several hundred metres below.

In addition to the competition, a conference was held with leading AUV developers (Oceaneering, Eelume, Saab, Stinger) and end-user (Equinor, Total Energies) in a synergistic exercise that brought more industry folk to the scene to interact and experience the events.  The strong Indian contingent of teams attracted the Indian ambassador to Norway to attend, together with several other political figures.

At the final prize awards ceremony, there were of course technical winners (Vortex from NTNU came 1st, Dreadnought Robotics 2nd and Sub-Horizon 3rd) but there were also special awards to recognise young professionalism (CAL ROV), tenacity (SRM AUV) and innovation (Sub-Horizon).  In the final analysis, there were no ‘losers,’ everyone learnt and grew through the experience and the group photograph shows, to me, one large communal team of winners.