The island of Faial (Azores, Portugal) has hosted the 2022 edition of the Marine Robotics Summer School (MRSS), an initiative jointly organized by the MIT Portugal Program (MPP), LSTS – Underwater Systems and Technology Laboratory (FEUP), and the University of Azores, with the participation of AIR Centre; CoLab +ATLANTIC; Gaspar Frutuoso Foundation; School of the Sea of the Azores; and Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar – OKEANOS. The Summer course in under the High Patronage of the Regional Government of Azores.
The initiative has the main goal to approach marine robotics to a selected group of twenty students with profiles mainly linked to ocean science and engineering, and in particular its applications to oceanography, archeology, and mapping of both coastal and ocean ecosystems.
Among the main activities that the MRSS addresses highlights: Lectures with world-renowned experts from the US (MIT) and Europe; Workshops that present the basics of ocean sciences and the use of robotics in ocean research and monitoring; Field demonstrations to showcase the latest autonomous systems technology, instrumentation, sensors, and remote operations; Hands-on field studies targeting oceanographic phenomena around the Azores; Experience deploying, operating, and recovering autonomous systems; Experience working with ocean data standards and performing data analysis.
PLOCAN is part of the MRSS professorate and its contribution has consisted in giving one of the training sessions on the functions and capabilities of specialized infrastructures in technological development and provision of services based on ocean observation robotics, under the name “PLOCAN: A dedicated infrastructure for autonomous ocean-vehicles base”, in order to show the attending students both the usefulness of this type of infrastructure and related future job opportunities.
The MIT Portugal Program (MPP) is a strategic international partnership between Portuguese universities and research institutions, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Portuguese government, as well as partners from industry and other non-academic institutions.
First established in Portugal in October 2006 and renewed in 2013, MPP has been developing a research platform for cutting-edge concepts in emerging areas of science and technology that have included: Bioengineering, Sustainable Energy, Transportation Systems, Engineering Design, and Advanced Manufacturing.
