Raising Awareness for Robotics-Aided Ocean Conservation [Student Corner

Abstract

Earth is 71% water, and the health and vigor of oceans and their endangered marine ecosystems have emerged as a pressing issue. The biggest challenges for ocean conservation are the enormous size and inaccessibility of these ecosystems: it is difficult to determine cause-andeffect relationships between small daily events (e.g., discarding plastic items) and global challenges (such as ocean pollution). Experimentation, data collection, preservation, and surveying come at great costs—with numerous dull, dangerous, and dirty tasks—making them prime candidates for robotics-based automated solutions. The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Chapter at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CUICAR) sought to use this opportunity to shift more attention to this issue, generate innovative solutions, and enable and motivate the engineers of today and tomorrow.