RI: Small: Collaborative Research: Bio-inspired Collaborative Sensing with Novel Gliding Robotic Fish

监测和了解水生环境对水的可持续性至关重要。该奖项的目标是建立一个理论框架，并提供一种使能技术，用于小型，廉价的机器人进行强大的水下协同传感。受活鱼寻源行为的启发，开发了计算效率高的环境场梯度协同跟踪算法，并分析了该算法在存在定位误差和通信拓扑变化情况下的鲁棒性。实验验证了该算法在一组高能效、高机动性的滑翔机器鱼的热源搜索和跟踪中的有效性，并在该项目中增强了光通信和定位能力。开发了先进的控制器，实现了机器人的三维机动，并通过协同传感算法跟踪规划的参考路径。该奖项提供了对资源有限的机器人协同传感的局限性和鲁棒性的基本理解，并有助于建立小型机器人水下通信和测距的知识库。它使技术进步能够对包括沿海水域、湖泊和河流在内的多种水生环境进行持续采样，并具有无数的应用，如溢油响应、生态监测、港口和饮用水安全。这个项目的成果通过出版物、软件共享和技术商业化进行传播。该项目为学生提供跨学科培训机会，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。拓展活动，包括博物馆/水族馆展览和教师培训，是为了激发K-12学生，教师和公众对科学和工程的兴趣而开发的。

Monitoring and understanding aquatic environments is critical to water sustainability. The goal of this award is to establish a theoretical framework and provide an enabling technology for robust underwater collaborative sensing with small, inexpensive robots. Inspired by the source-seeking behavior of live fish, computationally efficient algorithms are developed for cooperative tracing of the gradients of environmental fields, and their robustness is analyzed in the presence of localization error and changing communication topology. The algorithms are experimentally validated in thermal source seeking and tracing with a group of energy-efficient and highly maneuverable gliding robotic fish, which are enhanced in this project with optical communication and localization capabilities. Advanced controllers are developed for these robots to realize three-dimensional maneuvering and to track reference paths planned through collaborative sensing algorithms. This award offers fundamental understanding of limits and robustness properties of collaborative sensing by resource-limited robots, and contributes to the knowledge base in underwater communication and ranging for small robots. It enables technological advances for persistent sampling of versatile aquatic environments including coastal waters, lakes, and rivers, with a myriad of applications such as oil spill response, ecological monitoring, and port and drinking water security. The findings from this project are disseminated through publications, software sharing, and technology commercialization. The project provides interdisciplinary training opportunities for students, including those from underrepresented groups. Outreach activities, including museum/aquarium exhibits and teacher training, are developed to pique the interest of K-12 students, teachers, and the public in science and engineering.