Nautum is a student initiative in Munich, bringing together students from multiple universities to build autonomous underwater vehicles for deep-sea exploration.
Nautum brings together students from engineering, computer science, business, and design to build high-tech solutions for ocean exploration. We work across disciplines on real hardware and software, driven by curiosity, scientific rigor, and the conviction that the deep sea deserves better tools and a new generation of engineers willing to build them. As a student-driven initiative, we combine research, innovation, and open development with events, partnerships, and community engagement.
The ocean covers more than 70% of Earth, yet only a tiny fraction of the seafloor has been directly observed. By developing autonomous underwater vehicles, Nautum generates high-resolution visual and spatial data from regions no one has seen, improving seafloor maps, revealing unknown formations, and building a scientific foundation for future ocean research.
AUVs use sonar, cameras, and lighting to characterize seafloor environments and the organisms that live there. The data we collect helps researchers answer fundamental questions: where are key seabed structures, which habitats are present, and how do biological communities vary across depth and terrain.
The German Umweltbundesamt warns that deep-sea mining threatens biodiversity and disrupts benthic ecosystems through sediment dispersal. Nautum's data can establish pre-impact baselines and later track changes in seafloor structure, turbidity, and sensitive habitats, supporting evidence-based environmental decisions.
Our flagship vehicle, an autonomous underwater vehicle designed to operate at depths of up to 3,000 meters for more than 30 days, with a modular sensor payload built for deep-sea research.
Discover TritonWhether you're a student looking to apply, a researcher seeking collaboration, or a company interested in partnership, we'd love to hear from you.
