Maritime Robotics Laboratory

The exploration and monitoring of the world’s oceans is expensive and poses many safety challenges to those who undertake such missions. There is a real prospect that lower cost and more effective solutions can be devised using fleets of bespoke autonomous robots. Each robot has to be designed to operate in the aggressive marine environment with a high degree of reliability and with minimal environmental impact. The availability of such systems will create many new opportunities for scientific investigation and commercial development of ocean resources. Robots can inspect and maintain subsea cables and pipelines; measure ocean currents, salinity and temperature; and monitor environmental impact of seabed structures or the noise of passing ships. Academics and engineers from the National Oceanography Centre and the University of Southampton have collaborated for many years in designing and testing new vehicles, improving autonomy and generating advances in marine robotics.