HydRA
Hydrodynamic Response Analysis — a web application for simulating the linear and nonlinear response of marine and offshore structures, free to use.
Department of Ocean Engineering · Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Marine Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory
We work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, control theory and hydrodynamics — building autonomous surface and underwater platforms, and taking them from simulation to the water.
About the lab
The MAV Laboratory is part of the Department of Ocean Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. We study and build systems for marine autonomous vehicles — autonomous surface and underwater platforms — with an emphasis on ideas that can be validated in simulation and verified through tank and field trials.
Vision
Our vision is to provide an environment where curiosity meets practicality in marine robotics: a place where people passionate about AI, control theory, and hydrodynamics — in both software and hardware — can feed that curiosity and see their ideas become real vehicles, algorithms, and deployments.
We want students to exchange ideas freely, help each other, and turn imagination into reality — whether that means a new hull, a new controller, a new simulator module, or a field experiment.
We imagine the lab to be a guild of curious minds who help each other deploy their ideas into reality — not only on paper, but in code and in the water.
Mission
- Train researchers to work across disciplines: perception, planning, control, hydrodynamics, and marine systems.
- Maintain facilities and platforms that let ideas move from desk to basin to open water with clear safety and quality practices.
- Partner with industry and defence where aligned, and communicate our work clearly to the public and to prospective students.
Research identity
The lab’s intellectual centre sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, control theory, and hydrodynamics, applied to marine autonomy — including simulation, identification, and full-scale marine robotic systems.
Looking ahead
We aspire to grow to a level where the lab can meaningfully support India’s defence and commercial needs in marine autonomy. That is forward-looking ambition: we build toward it through publications, software tools, teaching, and partnerships — one project and one cohort at a time.
Director
Dr. Abhilash Somayajula, Associate Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras.
- researchers in the group
- 20
- active funded projects
- 7
- projects since 2019
- 11
Research
What we work on
Five threads that run through the group's work, from the hydrodynamics underneath to the autonomy on top.
Marine Autonomous Vehicles
Guidance, navigation and control for autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, taken from simulation through to field trials.
AI and Hydrodynamics
Machine learning applied to maritime systems, where data-driven models are combined with the physics of ship and platform motion.
System Identification
Extracting hydrodynamic coefficients and manoeuvring models from model tests and full-scale field data.
Hydrodynamics and Floating Systems
Nonlinear time-domain simulation of ships and offshore structures, including the panel-method solvers behind HydRA.
Nonlinear and Stochastic Dynamics
Rare and extreme responses of marine systems — parametric roll, capsize, and dynamic stability in a random seaway.
Software
Tools we build and share
MAVSim
Marine Autonomous Vehicle Simulator — a browser-based simulator for ship maneuvering and marine autonomy, free to use.
News
Recent activity
Interested in joining?
We welcome students curious about AI, control theory and hydrodynamics — and willing to take an idea all the way to a field trial.