ITS Chancellor Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng, when delivering his remarks at the launch of the Nala Proteus Ship and the release of the 2023 ITS Barunastra Team

ITS Campus, ITS News – The Barunastra Team of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) is ready to compete and make achievements again at the 2023 International Roboboat Competition in Florida, United States. This time, the robot ship team that ITS pride itself on is ready to compete via its newest ship, Nala Proteus, officially launched in the yard of the ITS Rectorate Building on Tuesday (14/3).

The newest ship was launched directly by ITS Chancellor Prof Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng. The Barunastra team will compete with teams from world-renowned universities on March 22-28.

In his remarks, Ashari expressed his support for the ITS Barunastra team, which had won four times at the same event. “This is extraordinary work from ITS students. I’m sure the ITS Barunastra team can return the title for the fifth time,” he said optimistically.

ITS Barunastra Team GM Fariz Rayyan Januar (left) when describing the Nala Proteus ship to ITS Chancellor Prof Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng (right)

To prepare for the competition, which will be held for seven consecutive days, the Barunastra team has been training since the end of 2022 to get maximum results. “We added several innovations, including ship propulsion and ship embossing,” said General Manager of ITS Barunastra Team Fariz Rayyan Januar.

Rayyan, as he is best known, added that there were still deficiencies in the ship’s embossed hull on previous boats. The thin distance between the water and the ship’s hull can endanger the ship’s electrical components.

The new ship of the Barunastra team is expected to be able to solve previous problems by widening the distance between the water and the ship’s hull.

The ITS Barunastra team witnessed a demonstration of the Nala Proteus ship in action over the pool in front of the ITS Rectorate

Apart from the side of the ship’s embossed hull, changes in the vessel can also be seen in its propulsion system. The propulsion system owned by the Nala Proteus ship uses a system with greater thrust and torque than the previous Barunastra ship propulsion.

“With this propulsion system, our newest ship can go up to a speed of 5 knots,” said the Department of Marine Engineering student.

Furthermore, Rayyan described that the Nala Proteus ship was 0.97 meters long and 0.84 meters wide. This new ship made by the Barunastra team uses strong fiberglass or glass fiber. With these materials, it is expected to be able to complete eight missions in this prestigious annual competition.

Demonstration of the Nala Proteus Ship belonging to the ITS Barunastra Team on the water blast mission, which will be contested at the 2023 International Roboboat Competition in Florida, USA

To face the international event, the Barunastra team has conducted experiments and optimized the ship’s performance several times. “With the latest innovation from the Barunastra team, we are confident that we can become champions again and make ITS and the Indonesian nation proud,” said Rayyan optimistically.

The launch of Nala Proteus was also attended by several ITS leaders, ITS Robotics UKM supervisors, and other invitees. After it was officially launched, the Nala Proteus ship also demonstrated its talent in front of the media crew in the pool in front of the ITS Rectorate. (ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Mohammad Febryan Khamim