Clark, who received his Ph.D. in 2004 from Stanford University from the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, has taught at the University of Waterloo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Princeton University, and now Harvey Mudd College. He has successfully deployed ROVs and AUVs in lakes and coastal regions of the US east and west coastlines, Hawaii, Malta, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the Arctic. His work includes developing ROV sonar mapping algorithms for constructing 3D visualizations of underwater tunnels below ancient archeological sites in Malta and Sicily, as well as multi? AUV formation control and estimation techniques for cooperative shark tracking. He may be contacted at clark AT hmc.edu.

Ryan Smith, who received his Ph.D. in Ocean & Resources Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH), spent three years as a Lecturer in Robotics in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Physics and Engineering Department at Fort Lewis College. Over the years, Smith has conducted research with multiple types of marine robots, from autonomous gliders to large scale survey platforms, and is internationally recognized for novel technology fusion techniques in path planning and control of these vehicles for applications in large ?scale ocean and aquatic monitoring. Dr. Smith may be contacted at rnsmith AT fortlewis.edu

Seminar Title:AUV based coastal hydrodynamics research: applications and challenges.

Abstract:AUVs have tremendous potential for coastal hydrodynamics research applications ranging from benthic mapping, to spatio-temporal resolution of hydrographic and hydrodynamics properties. Along with this potential come challenges in developing effective measurement practices and methodologies as well as the need for identifying sources for measurement error. A subset of AUV research applications for coastal hydrodynamics research is reviewed in this presentation including coral reef roughness mapping, observations of shoaling internal waves, coastal boundary layers and inner shelf vortical flow structure. We also describe and assess sources for biases in velocity measurement from an AUV in wave-dominated environments.

Bio: Geno Pawlak is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, he directs the Environmental Fluid Lab and his research addresses engineering and oceanographic problems involving fluid flow over complex boundaries, focusing on the role of flow structure in turbulent mixing and mass transport in environmental flows and on development of effective parameterizations for turbulent transport. Much of our work focuses on coastal hydrodynamics examining ocean mixing processes at scales ranging from headlands and continental shelves (kilometers) to wave boundary layers (centimeters). Dr. Pawlak may be contacted at pawlak AT ucsd DOT edu

Seminar Title: Aquatic Robotics Research at the University of Southern California

Abstract: This talk will provide an overview of recent aquatic robotics research at the Robotic Embedded Systems Lab (RESL), at the University of Southern California. RESL's work covers research involving many different kinds of aquatic robotic platforms, such as underwater gliders, (active) drifters, propelled autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs). We will discuss path planning approaches for AUVs, gliders and drifters, including adaptive sampling, risk-aware path planning, and informative path planning. Furthermore we will touch upon sensor calibration for navigation of autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), and on multi-robot coordination approaches for both AUVs and ASVs.

Bio: Stephanie Kemna is a PhD student at the University of Southern California, under the supervision of Prof. Gaurav Sukhatme. Her main research interests are in improving autonomy and intelligence of field robots, to enable scientists, such as biologists and oceanographers, to carry out efficient environmental monitoring.. Ms. Kemna may be contacted at kemna AT usc DOT edu

Seminar Title: Deepsea Challenger. Overview of an unconventional deep diving single man submersible

Abstract: When James Cameron put together a team to build his vision of diving on the Mariana's Trench, he deliberately chose members that did not have a background in sub sea systems. The result was an unconventional, and in some cases revolutionary, single man submersible. Brought in to solve a small list of automation pain points Ben Orchard soon found himself central to the core team. In this talk Ben will take us through the history, design, challengers and the series of dives that lead up to the big dive that resulted in only the 3rd person in human history to visit the deepest part of the planets oceans.

Bio: Ben Orchard is a key Applications Engineer at Opto 22 in Temecula, California. Ben develops in-house special projects for customer applications, especially in networking, energy management, and human-machine interfaces, specializing in the SNAP PAC Automation System. Ben Orchard presents in a number of Opto 22 videos showing how to use the company's products, helps teach the company's free monthly training classes, and is constantly in demand for his wide-ranging knowledge. Ben joined Opto 22's engineering staff after extensive field experience in automation in Australia. With an electronics background and a B.S. in Engineering Management, Ben spent over 18 years as a Plant Control Technician at a large regional hospital in Victoria where he integrated products from a variety of manufacturers to develop electrical, HVAC, refrigeration, and emergency response systems.

John Naglak is departing a short career in rocket propulsion testing to study robotics at Michigan Technological University. He developed his interest in mechatronics during his undergrad at Fort Lewis College and is grateful for the opportunity to deepen his skills during MRRSS.

My name is Michael Haas. I am a senior in the Fort Lewis College Engineering Department in Durango, Colorado. I have recently found an interest in programming electronics through my junior design class where I had to create an autonomous snow depth measurement device. I am trying to take as many opportunities as possible to get as much in depth experience as I can. I feel MRRSS would be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the skills I have and to obtain new ones. I am also thrilled about all of the hands on experience we will be having.

Jose Angel Castro is a Mechatronic Engineer at ITSLP with specialization in automation and control. He obtained his Masters in Sciences in "Robotics and Advance Manufacturing" at CINVESTAV Saltillo facility and has been a Control Engineer jr. at MAGNA SLMF. At MRRSS, he hopes to learn about development and startup of ROV's and AUV's.

Adam is a Computer Science student at Harvey Mudd College. His research includes path planning for multiple gliders attempting to uniformly sample seascapes. Previously, he's worked at Pure Storage and with Zach Dodds on LIDAR wallfinding algorithms.

Email: adunlap AT g.hmc.edu

Zunyan Wang is a Harvey Mudd College engineering student and a member of the shark tracking team. He is currently working on stochastic control systems for cooperating AUVs.

Email: zwang AT g.hmc.edu

Alberto received a M.Sc. in Computer Science Engineering (2011) and a Ph.D. in Information Technology (2015) from Politecnico di Milano at the Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Autonomous Field Robotics Laboratory (AFRL) at the Computer Science & Engineering Department of the University of South Carolina. His main research interests include autonomous mobile robotics and underwater robotics, dealing with problems that span from multirobot exploration and coverage to visual-based state estimation.

Email: ALBERTOQ AT cse dot sc dot edu

I am a PhD Student at Centre for Intelligent Machines, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. I am interested in making robots collect information about their environments in an intelligent way such that they maximize their information gain and minimize the time spent on it. I am working on having intelligent sensor networks which can reconfigure themselves and efficiently collect the information about the environment they are deployed in. Previously I have also worked with legged robots to make them adapt their walking behaviors according to the terrain they walk on.

At Mobile Robotics Lab, we work with underwater and surface water vehicles to solve problems like: health monitoring of coral reefs, search and rescue missions, and efficient trajectories for coverage. I am attending this workshop to increase my knowledge on multiple underwater vehicles and to discuss some interesting problems related to marine robotics with other roboticists working in this area. I am very excited to meet and talk to you about my interests in the field and listen to yours.

Email: msandeep AT cim dot mcgill dot ca>

My name is Jesse Garcia. I recently earned my Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside. I plan to continue my academic career in the Ph.D program researching navigation methods for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles. I hope to extend my knowledge of robotics to UUV's to benefit my research.

Email: jgarc074 AT ucr dot edu

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