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Marine debris originating from human activity has been accumulating in underwater environments such as oceans, lakes, and rivers for decades. The extent, type, and amount of waste is hard to assess as the exact mechanisms for spread are not…
We study the vertical dispersion and distribution of negatively buoyant rigid microplastics within a realistic circulation model of the Mediterranean sea. We first propose an equation describing their idealized dynamics. In that framework,…
According to the EPA, only 25% of waste is recycled, and just 60% of U.S. municipalities offer curbside recycling. Plastics fare worse, with a recycling rate of only 8%; an additional 16% is incinerated, while the remaining 76% ends up in…
Marine ecosystems are in the spotlight, because environmental changes are threatening biodiversity and ecological functions. In this context, microalgae play key ecological roles both in planktonic and benthic ecosystems. Consequently, they…
Soft-growing robots are innovative devices that feature plant-inspired growth to navigate environments. Thanks to their embodied intelligence of adapting to their surroundings and the latest innovation in actuation and manufacturing, it is…
Autonomous robots are used as the tool to solve many kinds of problems, such as environmental mapping and monitoring. Either for adverse conditions related to the human presence or even for the need to reduce costs, it is certain that many…
We describe opportunities and challenges with wireless robotic materials. Robotic materials are multi-functional composites that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation and communication to create smart composites that can sense…
We consider the problem of building an assistive robotic system that can help humans in daily household cleanup tasks. Creating such an autonomous system in real-world environments is inherently quite challenging, as a general solution may…
Mobile robots dedicated in security tasks should be capable of clearly perceiving their environment to competently navigate within cluttered areas, so as to accomplish their assigned mission. The paper in hand describes such an autonomous…
Researchers and robotic development groups have recently started paying special attention to autonomous mobile robot navigation in indoor environments using vision sensors. The required data is provided for robot navigation and object…
Transport phenomena in complex and dynamic microscopic environments are fundamentally shaped by hydrodynamic interactions. In particular, microparticle transport in porous media is governed by the delicate interplay between…
The current approach to exploring and monitoring complex underwater ecosystems, such as coral reefs, is to conduct surveys using diver-held or static cameras, or deploying sensor buoys. These approaches often fail to capture the full…
Autonomous surface vessels (ASV) represent a promising technology to automate water-quality monitoring of lakes. In this work, we use satellite images as a coarse map and plan sampling routes for the robot. However, inconsistency between…
We consider a single non-holonomic Dubins-like robot traveling with a constant longitudinal speed in an a priori unknown and unsteady planar environment. The robot should detect, locate, and track the boundary of a dynamic environmental…
Thin-film inspection on large-area substrates in coating manufacture remains a critical parameter to ensure product quality; however, extending the inspection process precisely over a large area presents major challenges, due to the…
Recognising new or unusual features of an environment is an ability which is potentially very useful to a robot. This paper demonstrates an algorithm which achieves this task by learning an internal representation of `normality' from sonar…
Autonomous terrain classification is an important problem in planetary navigation, whether the goal is to identify scientific sites of interest or to traverse treacherous areas safely. Past Martian rovers have relied on human operators to…
Tidy-up tasks by service robots in home environments are challenging in robotics applications because they involve various interactions with the environment. In particular, robots are required not only to grasp, move, and release various…
This paper presents a solution for the autonomous exploration and inspection of Ballast Water Tanks (BWTs) of marine vessels using aerial robots. Ballast tank compartments are critical for a vessel's safety and correspond to confined…
Recent advancements in robotics, control, and machine learning have facilitated progress in the challenging area of object manipulation. These advancements include, among others, the use of deep neural networks to represent dynamics that…