According to the statement made by ASELSAN, the company brought together young minds interested in science and technology with two competitions at TEKNOFEST, the world’s largest aviation, space and technology festival held at Istanbul Atatürk Airport.
TEKNOFEST 2023 Unmanned Underwater Systems Competition was held under the auspices of ASELSAN at the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Olympic Swimming Pool in two categories with different difficulty levels.
In the competition, where a total of 1401 applications were received, 44 teams passed the preliminary design, critical design and underwater mission video stages, respectively, and became finalists. A total of 777 thousand liras of support was provided to 57 competing teams that passed the critical design phase.
The teams that made it to the finals in the basic category competed in remote-controlled missions including underwater hockey and underwater mounting, as well as in autonomous task color detection and positioning task tracks. Teams in the advanced category worked on color detection and positioning, target detection and transition, and target detection and destruction courses, all of which were fully autonomous missions.
In this category, the first ARUNA (Mersin Private Toros Science High School) received 100 thousand liras, the second ALESTA (Adana Science High School) 80 thousand liras, and the third ARAL UWV (Afyonkarahisar Private Aral Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School) 60 thousand liras.
In the advanced category, TAUV (Istanbul Turkish-German University) won 130 thousand lira, second KAPSUL YAZGİT BARBAROV (Konya Technical University and Capsule Technology Platform) 100 thousand lira, third CALROV (Cağaloğlu Anatolian High School) 70 thousand lira.
In the same category, MEZAMORTA (Aksaray Youth Center) Most Original Design, ALESTA (Adana Science High School) Most Original Software, HYDROTECH (Istanbul Nun Schools) Best Team Spirit awards.
In the advanced category, TITANS (Kocaeli University) Most Original Design, TAUV (Istanbul Turkish-German University) Most Original Software, TOROS AUV ROBOTICS (Mersin Toros University) Best Team Spirit awards.
33 teams competed in artificial intelligence
The Artificial Intelligence in Transportation Competition, which has been held since 2018, was held this year with the partnership of ASELSAN, Cezeri and TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. 33 teams that successfully completed the preliminary design report, critical design report and online competition simulation steps out of a total of 1163 applications submitted to the competition at TEKNOFEST 2023 were entitled to the competition.
The competition was about the automatic detection of people, vehicles, landing areas and parking areas in video footage recorded from unmanned aerial vehicles, which are among the technologies of the future.
In the competition consisting of 4 sessions, the teams competed fiercely and made an effort to take the lead. At the end of each session, the success of the method developed by the competitions in detecting objects was measured.
Gaiatech, Codent, Foresighte teams took place in the top three in the competition. The first prize was given to Gaiatech with 100 thousand TL, the second Codent with 80 thousand TL and the third Foresighte with 60 thousand TL. Tosçelik HSM team won the “Best Team Spirit” award with the joint vote of the juries.
An award ceremony was held on the last day of the festival for the teams that won degrees at TEKNOFEST. Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, President of TÜBİTAK Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, ASELSAN Chairman and General Manager Haluk Görgün, BAYKAR General Manager Haluk Bayraktar and BAYKAR Board Chairman Selçuk Bayraktar were presented.
“We will ensure the technological transformation of our future with our young people”
ASELSAN Chairman and General Manager Görgün, whose views were included in the statement, stated that the fierce competition of young people in Unmanned Underwater Systems and Artificial Intelligence in Transportation competitions increased hopes for the future of Turkey.
Emphasizing the joy of meeting with thousands of young people who flocked to TEKNOFEST 2023, Görgün said:
“As ASELSAN, the performance of the future engineers, pilots and space scientists in our two separate competitions made us proud. I sincerely believe that our young people will have a share in the technological development of our country in today’s world where underwater is as critical as above water in the protection of the blue homeland. We experienced the excitement of seeing our bright futures. A total of 2 thousand 564 applications were received in our two competitions, where beautiful ideas competed fiercely. Their determination, hard work, determination and interest in technology gave us, as ASELSAN, greater strength to implement new national projects. In this sense, our youth “I think the value of touching technology and understanding innovation is invaluable. In order to make their dreams come true, we will continue to produce new projects, create added value for the defense industry, and carry national technology to the top. We will ensure the technological transformation of our future with our young people.”
