A team of international master’s students from the University of Girona has returned from Italy with strong results and valuable field experience after taking part in one of Europe’s most demanding underwater robotics competitions. Held at the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, the RAMI 2025 competition brought together academic teams from across the continent to test their autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in real-world maritime scenarios. Participants were challenged to develop systems capable of subsea navigation, object detection, and intervention tasks typically required in offshore inspection and environmental monitoring operations.
Representing the Master in Intelligent Robotic Systems (MIRS) and the Erasmus Mundus Master in Intelligent Field Robotic Systems (IFRoS), the Girona team entered the competition with MiniGirona, an AUV designed and built within the framework of their master’s studies at the VICOROB research group and its Underwater Robotics Research Centre (CIRS).
Over the course of a week, the students worked alongside researchers and PhD from VICOROB to deploy, test, and refine the vehicle in a controlled but highly realistic maritime environment. The event provided a unique opportunity to apply academic knowledge to hands-on engineering tasks and team-based problem solving.
The team secured second place overall, in addition to receiving awards for Best Poster and Best Presentation. But beyond the rankings, the experience offered participants direct exposure to the complexity and pace of real-world marine robotics operations—a key step for those seeking careers in applied research and high-tech industries.
