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

监测和了解水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，并为小型、廉价的机器人提供强大的水下协作传感技术。受活体鱼类寻源行为的启发，提出了计算高效的环境场梯度协同跟踪算法，并分析了它们在定位误差和通信拓扑变化情况下的鲁棒性。通过一组高能效、高机动性的滑翔机器鱼的实验验证了算法在热源寻找和跟踪中的有效性，该项目增强了这些机器鱼的光通信和定位能力。为这些机器人开发了先进的控制器，以实现三维机动，并通过协作感知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作传感的局限性和健壮性的基本了解，并为小型机器人的水下通信和测距方面的知识库做出了贡献。它使包括沿海水域、湖泊和河流在内的多种水生环境持续采样的技术进步成为可能，具有各种应用，如漏油响应、生态监测以及港口和饮用水安全。该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，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生提供跨学科培训机会。开展了外展活动，包括博物馆/水族馆展品和教师培训，以激发K-12学生、教师和公众对科学和工程的兴趣。

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.