SCIENCE
THEMES
The ROBOTS.FISH vehicles were designed to meet the needs of specific research projects. The first step, though, was understanding the phenomena we were trying to measure, so we could come up with a list of design requirements and objectives - a process that is (in our opinion) not often followed.
Use the menu on the left to learn more about each research area and the challenges that we faced as we tried to navigate the science that would shape the ROBOTS.FISH design.
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
Traditional ship-based methods of measuring ocean properties (such as temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll) are limited spatially and temporally - and are very expensive. Can ROBOTS.FISH vehicles address these disadvantages?
Bras d'Or Lake
(ROV)
Bras d'Or Lake
(AUV)
Bedford Basin
OIL SPILL CHARACTERIZATION
Effective clean-up of marine oil spills requires a rapid understanding of and response to the spill. ROBOTS.FISH vehicles can be deployed quickly and reduce the risk to human operators, but can they provide the information that First Responders need?
How did we measure oil? What did this data look like? Read about the science behind our experiments at the Ohmsett Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility, one of the few facilities where full-scale oil spill research can be conducted in a marine environment.
ohmsett 2022
PLUME TRACKING
Combining and moving beyond the above two themes, and addressing the motivation driving ROBOTS.FISH: can these small, inexpensive marine robotic platforms measure dynamic events in the ocean that are not necessarily visible to humans - or other remote sensing instruments, such as satellites or aerial drones?
tracer release experiment
thermal discharge
REFERENCES
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Ohmsett Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ohmsett.bsee.gov/
Last revised: February 27, 2023