The team of around 100 engineering students representing nearly every faculty at AGH University of Kraków. The team designs and builds solar-powered and autonomous boats, learning by taking each vessel from concept through to construction and on-water testing. It has competed in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge since 2017, starting in the Solar Class and now racing in the AI Class, a journey that mirrors the team’s own shift from solar racing towards autonomous surface vehicles.
AGH Solar Boat brings together around 100 engineering students from almost every faculty at AGH University of Kraków, making it one of the largest and most multidisciplinary student teams at the Challenge. United by a shared interest in clean and autonomous marine technology, the team designs and builds both solar-powered and self-navigating boats, handling everything from hull construction and electric propulsion to sensors, software and artificial intelligence in-house. Present at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge since 2017, AGH Solar Boat has evolved with the event itself, moving from the Solar Class to today’s AI Class, and turning years of solar-racing know-how into expertise in autonomous surface vehicles.
Celka, a solar boat turned autonomous, is a 6-metre vessel designed and built by members of the AGH Solar Boat team. Originally conceived as a manned solar racing boat, it has been fully retrofitted into an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), giving a proven racing platform a second life in autonomy research.
The boat is built around a lightweight carbon-fibre composite hull and a custom electric propulsion system, keeping weight low while leaving room for the sensing and computing hardware. Its autonomous capabilities rely on a sensor array combining LiDAR, a stereovision camera and high-precision GPS, all feeding data into onboard computers running neural networks. Together, these systems allow Celka to map its surroundings, detect obstacles and plan its own paths, navigating safely and independently in complex, dynamic marine environments.
