Field Validation of Novel Low-Cost Underwater Robot for Deepwater Exploration and Characterization
Exploration Team
Oliver Kroemer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. His research interests are in artificial intelligence and robotics, with a focus on learning for grasping and manipulation. Before joining Carnegie Mellon University, Oliver was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California where we worked with Gaurav Sukhatme. He defended his doctoral thesis at the Technische Universitaet Darmstadt in Germany in 2014.
Corina Barbalata, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, where she co-directs the Innovation in Control and Robotics Engineering Lab (iCORE Lab). Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. She obtained her doctorate from Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom, and has a double master’s degree in computer vision and robotics from the University of Burgundy and Heriot-Watt University. Her work is focused on proposing solutions for real-world robotics applications with social and environmental merits, with an emphasis on dynamic modeling, control, and visual motion planning for underwater robotics systems and collaborative industrial robotics.
Mikhalib Green is a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University. He is researching dynamics modeling of low-cost underwater vehicles using data-driven methods. His work focuses on using data collected by robots like DROPSphere and Bruce in real-world environments to create dynamics models for more accurate localization and optimal control.
William Ard received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in robotics from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2021. Following that, he began the pursuit of a graduate degree with the LSU Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, where he has worked as a member of the Innovation in Control and Robotics Engineering Lab (iCORE Lab), studying motion planning and computer vision in the domain of industrial and underwater robotics.
Donovan Gegg is an undergraduate in the accelerated master’s degree program at Louisiana State University (LSU) in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. His research interests are in the field of collaborative localization approaches and computer vision solutions for autonomous systems. While studying at LSU, Donovan has been working as an undergraduate research assistant in the Innovation in Control and Robotics Engineering Lab (iCORE Lab) exploring topics involving 3D reconstruction, deep learning, and multiagent systems.
Patrick Jasper an undergraduate in mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University (LSU). He is a member of the DROPSphere autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) project with the Innovation in Control and Robotics Engineering Lab at LSU performing underwater remotely operated vehicle/AUV research. He loves robotics, manufacturing, and design work, as well as physical activity, travel, and art.
Sierra Landreth graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and a minor in statistics. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Quantitative Marine Conservation Ecology Lab. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in biological oceanography at Florida State University in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science. She is a part of the Baco-Taylor Lab, and her research interests include deep-sea biology and the ecology of deep-sea coral.
Abigail Nealy is a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University with a strong foundation in mathematics and a passion for robotics, control systems, and applied mechanics. Her research focuses on the development and testing of robotic systems, including inverse kinematics, force sensing, and real-time control. Abigail brings a multidisciplinary approach to her work, drawing from her experience in engineering education, laboratory research, and other industries.
Richard Ray is an undergraduate Student at Louisiana State University (LSU) pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in robotics. He is a member of the Innovation in Control and Robotics Engineering Lab at LSU where he is working on the DROPSphere project, with a focus on the electrical and computational aspects.
Tianyi Zhang is a doctoral candidate in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His research focuses on visual perception algorithms including 3D reconstruction, representation learning, localization, mapping, and their applications on field robots. As a member of the Deep Robot Optical Perception (DROP) Lab, Tianyi has worked on developing underwater robotic platforms and deployed them in the Great Lakes, Hawai‘i, Florida, and elsewhere. Tianyi received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Tianjin University in China and a master’s degree in robotics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.