Selected for Mitou Junior 2025 and Named a Super Creator

At Mitou Junior 2025, AquaWiz's Matsumoto was selected for the project "UmiNavi" and named a Super Creator.

UmiNavi is a system that lets an underwater drone know its own position in environments where GPS is unavailable. In underwater observation, knowing where each data point came from matters a great deal — but the mainstream approach using acoustic sensors (DVLs) is expensive, putting it out of reach for individual developers and small teams. We took a different route: combining Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO) from a camera and IMU with depth sensor data, aiming to deliver practical position estimation from a more accessible hardware stack.

We have pursued design and evaluation with real operation in mind — handling corrections specific to underwater conditions and validating performance under movement that includes turning maneuvers. The Super Creator recognition reflects those results.