Seminar: Decision Making for Marine Robotics

Dr. Geoff Hollinger Associate Professor Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CoRIS) Institute Oregon State University Location Information: **this seminar will be held both in person (Holmes Hall 247) and over Zoom** Meeting ID: 960 4654 5799 Passcode: OREseminar https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96046545799 Underwater gliders, propeller-driven submersibles, and other marine robots are increasingly being tasked with gathering information (e.g., in environmental monitoring, offshore inspection, and coastal surveillance scenarios). However, in most existing scenarios, human operators must carefully plan the mission to ensure completion of the task. Strict human oversight not only makes such deployments expensive and time consuming but also makes some tasks impossible due to the requirement for heavy cognitive

Seminar: Experimental Findings of Fixed Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter System through the Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research Program

Nicholas Ulm PhD Student Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Zoom Meeting Link: Meeting ID: 935 9608 7383 Passcode: OREseminar https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/93596087383 With a rising interest in blue economy applications of wave energy, a shift in the design process for wave energy converters needs to be considered for each alternate application. Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) docking powered by a wave energy converter (WEC) has been investigated over the past decade, but as separate technologies. Recent developments in the blue economy have brought the two technologies together in a proposed design of an underwater docking system for

Seminar: Bioinspired Propulsion and Sensing Systems Enabling Next Generation Underwater Vehicles

Michael Krieg, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Ocean & Resources Engineering University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Even the most robust and sophisticated underwater robots pale in comparison to the performance of the ocean’s natural inhabitants, as many of which seem to traverse turbulent environments with ease and also demonstrate effective long range migration patterns. This talk analyzes a novel propulsion mechanism inspired by the locomotion of squid and jellyfish; whereby, finite fluid jets are ejected from a flexible internal cavity in a periodic fashion. Vortex ring formation, which is associated with expelled jets starting from rest, causes the thrust associated with this

Seminar: The Challenges and Capabilities of Free-Floating Autonomous Robots for Exploration of Extreme Environments

Corina Barbalata, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University The Deep Space and the Deep Ocean are very similar in the sense that they are positioned at the end of continuum of extreme environments and pressures, that without the advancement of technology humans cannot access it. The advancements of robotics allowed us to access areas that have never been reached before and see details of wonders that were previously hidden to the human eye, all while reducing costs and increasing safety for space and ocean exploration. Nevertheless, robots used for space and ocean exploration still struggle with the environmental hazards. Moreover, if

Seminar: Approaching Residency of Marine Robots for Persistent Underwater Autonomy

Dr. Zhuoyuan Song Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Hawai’i, Manoa Persistent subsea exploration and monitoring are of vital significance in many fields including early tsunami warning, oceanography, marine biology, coastal safety, natural resource exploitation, and environmental preservation. An emerging frontier of marine robotics is the endeavor to achieve long-term residency of autonomous underwater vehicles. Supported by subsea infrastructures such as ocean observatories, resident autonomous underwater vehicles (RAUVs) can acquire power and cabled communication from off-shore docking stations. RAUV could provide prolonged dynamic measurements of the subsea environment and attend to emerging remote events promptly. This talk covers

Seminar: Towards Virtual Environments to Support Maritime Robotics

Dr. Brian S. Bingham Associate Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Simulation plays an increasingly important role in the development and testing of robotic and autonomous systems. While simulation cannot replace field testing, it can provide a surrogate for both the robot and its operating environment, emulating the robot’s motion and sensor measurements to exercise the system software while reducing the required development cost and time. For maritime applications the high cost of the robotic platforms, challenges associated with access to the operating environment and lack of control over environmental factors accentuate the importance of

Seminar: Bioinspired Propulsion and Sensing Systems Enabling Next Generation Underwater Vehicles

Michael Krieg, PhD Research Scientist Institute for Networked Autonomous Systems (INAS) University of Florida Even the most robust and sophisticated underwater robots pale in comparison to the performance of the ocean’s natural inhabitants, as many of which seem to traverse turbulent environments with ease and also demonstrate effective long range migration patterns. This talk analyzes a novel propulsion mechanism inspired by the locomotion of squid and jellyfish; whereby, finite fluid jets are ejected from a flexible internal cavity in a periodic fashion. Vortex ring formation, which is associated with expelled jets starting from rest, causes the thrust associated with this

Seminar joint with Mechanical Engineering: New Perspectives on the Localization and Coordination of Underwater Vehicles in Strong Geophysical Circulations

Dr. Zhuoyuan Song Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Small autonomous robots as environmental perception instruments are often severely constrained in actuation capability, navigation system accuracy, and on-board processing capacity.  The presence of ubiquitous geophysical flows tends to exacerbate challenges associated with the control and state estimation of these mobile platforms.  Conventionally, background flows are considered as adversarial factors to the mobility and navigation accuracy of mobile robots.  I advocate a new perspective on the role of background flows as ubiquitous navigation references and transportation “highways” for independent and networked autonomous robots.  The first part