We did it!

2025-06-02

After almost five years of Sunday night prototyping sessions, technical rabbit holes, hands-on experimental engineering and spin-off side projects, we have built our own autonomous underwater vehicle. Our goal? To autonomously navigate around the small islet of Rotholmen in Lake Mälaren.

Last week, our AUV — Ålen — successfully completed the 1.2 km journey around Rotholmen! Cruising at a depth of 2 meters, it made brief surface breaks to update its position and transmit data back to shore.

There were some tense moments as we waited for those precious updates to appear on the big TV we had set up by the shoreline. But after 20 long minutes, Ålen resurfaced for good and made its final turn toward dry land — greeted by a cheering crowd and three very relieved and happy friends.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to follow Ålen’s first major expedition, and to all who supported us throughout this long-running project. We’re excited for many more subsea adventures ahead!