Our Faculty Students Came Third in Türkiye at TEKNOFEST Blue Homeland 2026
At the TEKNOFEST Mavi Vatan 2026 competitions held at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard Command, the autonomous unmanned surface vessel named ‘Kılıç & Arslan’, designed and developed by our university’s Zeronetech Team, achieved third place in Turkey.
In line with the vision of the National Technology Initiative, the Zeronetech Team—which makes a direct contribution to the development of autonomous technologies in our seas and stands out for its innovative design—is primarily composed of our engineering students from various departments within our faculty.
A Strong and Multidisciplinary Engineering Team
Our students who are part of the Zeronetech team, proudly representing our faculty and university on the national stage, are:
- Computer Engineering: Ali İhsan Kerem Kahya, Fatma Sıla Kaplan, Kaya Furkan İpekçi, Sude Perçin
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering: Mustafa Görgülü, Buse Demirci, İlayda Aydın
- Mechanical Engineering: Murat Uysal, Enes Kayhan, Bengisu Uysal
(Students from Akdeniz, Alanya and Samsun Universities also contribute to the team’s interdisciplinary spirit.)
Our team, which received praise from the Chief of General Military, the Commanders of the Naval and Land Forces, the President of the Defense Industry Directorate (SSB), and senior executives of defense industry companies at the TEKNOFEST exhibition area, has also taken a step towards an international vision. The team also recently won the "Best Human-Machine Interface" award at the NJORD Challenge 2026 competition held in Norway. The team will participate in TEKNOFEST Southeast 2026, which will be held in Şanlıurfa from September 30th to October 4th, 2026.
Congratulations from our Dean, Prof. Dr Erhan Cengiz
Issuing a message to mark this proud achievement, Prof. Dr Erhan Cengiz, Dean of the ALKÜ Rafet Kayış Faculty of Engineering, stated: “It is our greatest source of pride that our students are applying the engineering education they have received in practice to develop high-tech products that contribute to our country’s vision of full independence and the National Technology Initiative. I wholeheartedly congratulate all our students who, by demonstrating one of the finest examples of interdisciplinary work, came third in Turkey and have earned the right to prize in Norway, and I wish them continued success in the competitions in the future.”
