FER dives deep into robotics and the underwater world

Assistant Professor in the Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Dr. Nikola Mišković is the coordinator of a large and important project ‘CADDY’, which aims to finally enable divers to access the deepest marine expanses with the help of robots.

In addition to ‘CADDY’, among the many projects that this young scientist is working on in the laboratory led by Professor Zoran Vukić, it is worth highlighting the multi-robotic system being developed as part of the European project ‘subCULTron’, which is intended to prevent the devastation of Venice, and the ‘MORUS’ project led by Professor Stjepan Bogdan from FER, which is part of NATO’s prestigious ‘Science for Peace’ program.

– It is fascinating how many unexplored areas we have on Earth. We have a map of the Moon, but if we go just a little south of Zagreb, the depths of the Adriatic Sea are still unknown to us.

We may never personally encounter these unexplored underwater places, but if we engage in underwater robotics, we will be the first to learn about them – explains Dr. Mišković, sharing the source of his passion for this field. The expert team in FER’s Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies is engaged in all types of research related to marine robotics. This includes robotics on the sea surface and underwater. Underwater research is very demanding and challenging because there is neither GPS nor wireless communication, yet on a planet that is 70 percent underwater, detailed maps of the seabed do not yet exist. The expansion of underwater robotics has only occurred in the last twenty years. The reason for this, as Mišković reveals, is not a sudden desire to explore new species of animals or plants, but rather that we have exhausted the ores on the Earth’s surface, which is why we now need to turn to the exploitation of underwater ores.

The ‘CADDY’ project is therefore very important. It is the largest project in the Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies, funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7). It is the first such project coordinated by an institution from Croatia. The project involves seven partners across Europe, and the European Union is funding it with a total of 3.7 million euros. It focuses on researching the possibilities of interaction between autonomous underwater vehicles and divers during complicated underwater missions.

– Our goal is to create a successful system that will enable interaction between the robot underwater and the diver. It should independently assess what information to provide to the diver who, in our envisioned scenario, has an underwater tablet, but we want to create a robot that will be a ‘buddy’ to the diver, performing tasks for him and guiding him through the difficult underwater world and ultimately bringing him to the desired point. It must also predict in time whether a problem will arise, such as nitrogen poisoning, and alert the crew on the surface – explains the project coordinator. The ‘CADDY’ project started in January 2014 and is expected to last three years. How the robot functions in real conditions was proven by last year’s validation experiment in Biograd na Moru. Now they are left with polishing and the final validation project in October, says Dr. Mišković.

At FER, they hope that by then the technology will be fully operational and ready for market launch. After researchers develop the concept and bring it to the prototype stage, anyone interested in introducing the robot into their research and exploitation of underwater ores will be able to take over the prototype and the knowledge of the entire international team. Mišković states that they are not dealing with commercialization. – It is up to the researcher to conduct the research, to the technology transfer office to transfer the technology from the researcher to the industry, and to the industry to deal with commercialization – believes the assistant professor.

‘subCULTron’ is another European project that the team in this FER laboratory is working on. It is a multi-robotic system consisting of 150 artificial shells, 50 artificial fish, and five artificial lilies. This system will be set up in the Venetian canal. It will be there for some time, observing what happens inside, and the research results should help scientists understand how to stop the rapid degradation of the canal. The entire system must be able to move independently and decide where to conduct which measurement, without human intervention. – We want to create a system of underwater vehicles and an autonomous aircraft that communicate with each other. Since the underwater vehicle does not have a large range of movement, our idea is for the aircraft to transport the mentioned vehicle to the desired location – says Mišković. He is satisfied with the competition of the Croatian Science Foundation, which, according to the German model, additionally finances those who have already received EU projects.

– I know that this may bother some, but the principle that the excellent receive more funding for their work instead of everyone getting a little and thus no one achieving anything seems to me to be the only correct way of financing – believes Dr. Mišković, but he also warns that Croatia is one of the countries in the EU that invests the least in science. – We must change this if we do not want to become someone’s service or a country solely of service activities – he adds.

At FER, they also encourage the establishment of spin-off companies, but since they are still developing regulations and the legal framework is not established, they do not rush into such ventures. – At MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), they are not the best just because they have the best students, but also because they have the most financial resources, which come precisely from spin-offs. That is the path everyone should take – concludes Nikola Mišković.