I-Corps: Mobile Autonomous Remotely Controlled Observation Node (MARCON) Kit

目前的海洋领域研究活动是由研究船范式主导的。自主水下航行器(AUV)现在已经可以使用，并且已经成熟用于海洋传感，但范围有限，而且在有效载荷、能力和持续时间方面也有限制。需要改进海洋机器人及其与载人系统(考察船)的耦合，以加速远洋船舶活动。拟议的创新是使高速、高功率机器人表面车辆的移动网络(多代理系统)能够配备传感器(实时传感)和用于后期样品处理的新型机器人取样器。机器人水面舰艇是由拟议的自动化套件Marcon：(移动、自主和远程控制观察节点)实现的，这是一种更便宜、更轻和开放源码的水面车辆自动化系统。这项技术更广泛的影响是它能够影响数据收集和各种参数的质量，以了解任何水生生态系统。由于推动将观测从实验室转移到分散的环境中，水道自动测绘的市场正在增长。实现关键参数和新参数的快速自动制图不仅将影响生态系统的管理，而且可以减少时间和成本，从而导致更高效的环境管理过程。所提出的技术的智力优势是它能够改变海洋/湖泊/河流观测领域。此外，基于船舶的研究中的不足，如时间和空间上的混叠、有效的大范围覆盖、人类在海上的压力、在水中缺乏持久性以及在大范围内自适应响应的能力，都可以通过机器人增强的船舶操作来改善。美国的海洋研究人员将从这项工作中受益。此外，对锋面、水华、极端事件(飓风、放射性物质泄漏等)和石油泄漏的适应性反应能力将得到加强。向市场提供这些建议的工具包的主要特点包括：分布式机器人水面车辆舰队，以实现新的研究船系统；用于快速传感/采样水道和最大限度地提供传感器托管的功率的机器人运载工具；自动化的高内容数据生成和可视化的端到端解决方案；先进的自适应传感和采样方法；可访问的开源技术，用于快速采用和传播自动化工具包和船平台。

Current ocean field research activity is dominated by the Research Vessel paradigm. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are now available and have been maturing for ocean sensing but are range limited plus have limits in payload capacity and duration. Improvements in ocean robotics and their coupling to manned systems (research vessels) are needed in order to accelerate ocean going ship activities. The proposed innovation is to enable mobile networks (multi-agent system) of high speed, high power robotic surface vehicles outfitted with sensors (real time sensing) and novel robotic samplers for post sample processing. The robotic surface vessels are enabled by the proposed automation kit designated MARCON: (Mobile, Autonomous and Remotely Controlled Observation Node), a cheaper more lightweight and open-source automation system for surface vehicles. The broader impact of this technology is its ability to impact the data collection and quality of the various parameters to understand any aquatic ecosystem. The market for automated mapping of the waterways is growing because of the push to move observations out of laboratories into decentralized settings. Implementation of fast automated mapping of key and new parameters will not only impact the management of ecosystems, but can reduce time in and costs, which will result in a more efficient environmental management process.The intellectual merit of the proposed technology is its ability to transform the field of ocean/lakes/river observations. Further, deficiencies in ship-based research such as aliasing in time and space, efficient large area coverage, stress at sea for humans, lack of persistence on the water, and ability to adaptively respond over a large area, can all be improved with robotic augmented ship operations. Ocean researchers in the US will benefit from this work. In addition, the ability to adaptively respond to fronts, blooms, extreme events (hurricanes, radioactive releases, etc) and oil spills will be enhanced. The key features of making these proposed kits available to the market place include: distributed fleets of robotic surface vehicles to enable a new Research Vessel System; a robotic vehicle for speedy sensing/sampling of waterways and power for maximum sensor hosting; an end-end solution for automated high content data generation and visualization; advanced adaptive sensing and sampling approach; accessible open source technology for rapid adoption and diffusion of the automation kit and boat platform.