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Datum 2021-06-28
Artikeltyp News

Student project attracts international attention

This article was written before our official name change on January 1, 2022 from Mälardalen University (MDH) to Mälardalen University (MDU).

Panama's ambassador to Sweden stands together with students in front of a miniature of a sailing boat.

Panama's ambassador to Sweden recently visited MDH's C2 lab where he got to meet students who has been working on the project AutoSail.

Panama's ambassador to Sweden recently visited Mälardalen University’s (MDH) C2 lab – a laboratory where several of the University's engineering students work on projects together with researchers, other higher education institutions and companies in the industry. One of the projects that attracted attention during the visit was the self-driving sailing boat AutoSail.

When Panama's ambassador to Sweden, Andrés Gregorio Núñez Sánchez, visited MDH, he was able to observe the AutoSail project. This is a project where MDH together with the Technological University of Panama and the University of Antioquia in Colombia, are developing an autonomous sailing boat that will eventually be powered by solar energy.

“At MDH, our students and researchers work side by side to develop the boat. In connection with the visit, two students who have been working on the development of the boat presented the project to the ambassador and he was impressed by their work,” says Mikael Ekström, Professor of Robotics at MDH.

Part of MDH's internationalisation efforts

The AutoSail project is part of an internationalisation project run by all three higher education institutions mentioned above and is financed by Stiftelsen för internationalisering av högre utbildning och forskning (STINT) (the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education). The purpose of the internationalisation project is to develop strategies and implement initiatives to strengthen the efforts regarding internationalisation at MDH.

“AutoSail is a result of our investment in internationalisation. With the internationalisation project, we will develop cooperative initiatives with our partner universities in Panama and Colombia, namely through two additional student projects that will focus on smart cities and health technology for the ageing population,” says Damir Isovic, Dean of School and Chair of the International Council at MDH.

More about the project AutoSail

Autonomous sailing boats to replace our present cargo vessels?

In the student project AutoSail, students and researchers at MDH are working side by side on developing an autonomous sailing boat. – If we can eventually replace the cargo vessels on the Atlantic with autonomous, self-propelling sailing boats powered by sustainable energy, we can gain enormous environmental benefits, says Mikael Ekström, Professor of Robotics and Project Manager at MDH.

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