Autonomous Vehicle Exploration and Sampling of Deep-Water Corals

Lead Pi: Franz Hover · 2/2008 - 1/2014

Project Personnel: Jess Adkins

MIT Sea Grant, National Sea Grant
Project number: 2008-R/RT-2/RCM-23
Strategic Focus Area: Hazard Resilience in Coastal Communities
Deep-water corals autonomous underwater vehicle

The researchers are applying AUV technology to the task of finding, monitoring, and sampling benthic environments. This will include developing new strategies for AUV navigation, control and manipulation. These capabilities will aid in the study of deep-water corals, which are an important record of past climate shifts, and thus play a major role in understanding climate change.