IUCRC Planning Grant University of Delaware: Center for Robotic Oceanic and Coastal Systems (CROCS)

可能建立一个跨学科的产学合作研究中心(IUCRC)的规划会议将把特拉华大学工程学、海洋学、灾害研究、技术和伦理学的教职员工和研究人员与领先的行业技术专家、政府机构和急救人员聚集在一起，讨论建立机器人海洋和海岸系统中心的共同利益。该中心的使命是通过汇聚的、教师驱动的、协作的、竞争前的基础研究项目来填补主要的智力和经济差距，这些项目侧重于帮助美国经济的海事部门克服阻碍其发展的障碍。这将通过采访可能的参与者来实现，以确定行业高度优先的领域，以制定一个强有力的价值主张，使私营部门参与资助中心的研究。该中心将在海洋学、环境和气象科学、人工智能(AI)、机器人、传感器网络、数据科学和公共政策的交叉点上运作。该中心的目标将是获得关于深海和沿海、自然、多尺度和相互关联的动力系统的形态和演化以及它们如何受到人类活动影响的科学见解。该中心还将帮助评估沿海和近海开发项目的长期影响，并及时有效地改善对自然和人为紧急情况和灾害的反应。这项计划拨款提供了资源，以便与行业合作伙伴合作并确定共同利益，以开展可能为中心成员带来技术优势的基础和竞争前研究类型。规划过程的更广泛影响将是发展和规划海洋机器人和数据分析方面的强大学生培训和劳动力发展部分，提高美国海洋机器人行业的竞争力，以及面向中小学的公共宣传。其他影响包括来自特拉华州立大学和南卡罗来纳大学的教职员工的参与，这两所大学都在EPSCoR州。机器人与海洋和沿海系统中心建立在特拉华大学的成功传统之上，即创建强大的解决方案，以满足植根于基础科学和工程以及对潜在现象的理解的工业和社会需求。该中心的目标领域包括：利用人工智能和机器学习进行预测建模的相互关联领域；快速变化的沿海环境下的海底测绘；水下通信和利用5G技术搭建水/空气界面的桥梁；开发管理水下机器人通信阵列的算法；成群携带各种传感器的水下机器人，以测量海洋温度以及化学和生物特性；提高自主水下机器人保持活动和收集数据所需时间的考虑因素；收集和整合关键数据元素，如来自遥感的数据和海气/天气输入。示范、高影响力的研究项目将构成中心面对面规划拨款会议的基础，该会议将涉及大学教职员工推广美国经济中海事部门成员强烈感兴趣的价值主张。会议的目标将是让私营公司有兴趣成为中心的付费成员，他们的会费将支付中心研究的费用。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The planning meeting to potentially establish an interdisciplinary industry-university cooperative research center (IUCRC) will bring together faculty and researchers at the University of Delaware in engineering, oceanography, disaster research, technology, and ethics with leading industry technology experts, government agencies, and first responders to discuss mutual interests in establishing a Center for Robotic Oceanic and Coastal Systems. The Center's mission is to fill major intellectual and economic gaps through convergent, faculty-driven, collaborative, pre-competitive, fundamental research projects focused on helping the maritime sector of the US economy overcome hurdles holding it back. This will be accomplished by interviewing possible constituents to identify areas of high priority to industry to formulate a strong value proposition that will engage the private sector in funding Center research. The Center will operate at the intersection of oceanography, environmental and weather science, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, sensor networks, data science, and public policy. Goals of the Center will be to obtaining scientific insights on the morphology and evolution of deep ocean and coastal, natural, multi-scale, and interconnected dynamical systems and how they are influenced by human activity. the Center will also work to help assess the long-term impact of coastal and offshore development projects, and improve responses to natural and man-made emergencies and disasters in a timely and effective fashion. This planning grant provides the resources to work with and identify, collaboratively, with industrial partners common-interests for the type of basic and pre-competitive research that can potentially give Center members a technological edge. Broader impacts of the planning process will be the development and planning for a strong student training and workforce development piece in ocean robotics and data analytics, improved competitiveness of the US marine robotic sector, and public outreach to elementary and secondary schools. Additional impacts include involvement of faculty from Delaware State University and the University of South Carolina, both of which are in EPSCoR states.The Center for Robotics and Oceanic and Coastal Systems builds on University of Delaware's successful tradition of creating robust solutions to address industrial and societal needs rooted in fundamental science and engineering and the understanding of underlying phenomena. The Center will target applications that require the interconnected areas of predictive modeling using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, seabed mapping in rapidly changing coastal environments; underwater communications and application of 5G to bridge the water/air interface; development of algorithms for managing arrays of communicating underwater robotic vehicles swarms carrying various sensors to measure ocean temperature and chemical and biological properties; power considerations to improve the duration a autonomous underwater vehicle can stay active and collect data; and collection and integration of critical data elements, like those from remote sensing, and air-sea/weather inputs. Exemplar, high-impact, research projects will form the basis of the Center in-person planning grant meeting that will involve university faculty promoting a value proposition of strong interest to members of the maritime sector of the US economy. Goals of the meeting will be to interest private sector companies in becoming paying members of the Center and whose membership fees will then pay for Center research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.