China has set a Guinness World Record by operating 116 autonomous underwater robots at the same time.
The record was achieved by Northwestern Polytechnical University and Xi’an Tianhe Maritime Technologies using TH-618 underwater robots.
The Chinese team from Northwestern Polytechnical University and Xi’an Tianhe Maritime Technologies set the new Guinness World Record on August 29, when they deployed 116 TH-618 autonomous underwater vehicles at once in a 50m by 20m pool in Xi’an, supervised by Guinness officials.
During the test on August 29, 2026, all 116 robots navigated underwater in formation for 34 minutes and traveled more than 500 meters along a preset route without direct human control.
Each robot is 61.5 cm long, 20 cm wide and 28 cm high, and weighs 5.14 kg. The university says each can travel up to 30 km and operate for more than eight hours.
The robots used real-time visual sensing to navigate and stay in formation.
The university says the technology could eventually be used for underwater exploration and other underwater operations.
The record was achieved in a controlled 50-by-20-meter swimming pool, not in the open ocean.
For 34 minutes, the entire swarm navigated over 500 meters in coordinated formation with no human intervention. Each TH-618 is a small 5.14 kg robot, 61.5 cm long, using camera-based vision to hold its course and correct in real time.
The university said it was a breakthrough because stable, long-duration autonomous coordination of hundreds of underwater vehicles has been one of the hardest challenges in the field.
The record was certified on September 24 and is significant because underwater swarming is far harder than air or land — GPS and radio don’t work underwater.
The achievement shows China pushing fast on large-scale unmanned systems for future ocean mapping, inspection, and maritime operations.
