Resarcher Luka Šiktar both assistant and doctoral student Branimir Ćaran represented CRTA and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, in the finals of the competition TrustRobotics Challenge 2025 at a prestigious event CSAW 2025. There they presented an innovative project ROBOCAMP: Aerial Robotics for Autonomous Search and Rescue in Tourist Camps. This is research aimed at developing an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle system intended for search, detection and tracking of persons for the purpose of supporting emergency situations in large open environments, such as tourist camps.
Competition TrustRobotics Challenge, held as part of CSAW¨'25 Europe, is a unique platform that brings together the most promising young researchers in the field safe and reliable robotics. The initiative is intended for graduate students, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from the academic community and industrial R&D laboratories across Europe, with an emphasis on projects that demonstrate security, resilience and trust in robotic systems.
At the competition held in Valence, France, Luka and Branimir won 1st place, which earned them recognition for originality, industrial applicability and a significant contribution to improving safety in robotics. Their work was evaluated by an expert jury composed of representatives of the French robotics industry.
As part of the final performance, they demonstrated an autonomous search and tracking system that uses advanced computer vision techniques. The unmanned aircraft is equipped with CNN with human detection system, algorithms for facial recognition and estimating the depth based on key points of the human body. This approach allows the drone to accurately detect and track people in real time, which represents an important step towards the application of autonomous UAV systems in demanding search and rescue operations.
This exceptional success confirms the quality of research work at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, and shows how Croatian researchers can compete equally at the European and global level in the field of advanced robotics.
Participation and victory in the TrustRobotics Challenge 2025 further motivates the team to continue improving the system, conducting further research, and collaborating with industrial and academic partners.
The project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund
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