Breaking the Surface International interdisciplinary field workshop of maritime robotics and applications
University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UZG)
Reference Teacher: Prof. Roee Diamant (Program Chair)
Teacher(s): International experts, university professors, scientists, industry representatives
Breaking the Surface – BTS is an international interdisciplinary field workshop of maritime robotics and applications. Ever since 2009, it has served as a meeting place for international experts, university professors, scientists, industry representatives and students from various fields.
BTS has for the last 16 years brought together the world’s renowned professionals and has encouraged interaction and the exchange of knowledge and experience. The program consists of:
– Lectures where latest scientific research and results are presented
– Field demonstrations which showcase the latest technology achievements made by research groups and companies
– Tutorials which offer hands-on experience working with complex and modern underwater systems
– Company presentations with insight from company professionals about their company and company products
Bachelor, Master or PhD depending on students’ provenance
The students will acquire a broad knowledge on the main trends and current state of the art in maritime robotics and its applications, especially in the fields of marine biology, marine oceanography and maritime archaeology (but not only). The students will also develop a good capability to understand the practical issues of robotics through tutorials and demos.
During the tutorials and the acoustic localization challenge, the students will acquire practical skills in diverse areas ranging from computer vision and acoustic communication to underwater archaeology, marine litter cleaning and maritime security. They will also gain hands-on experience in scientific analysis and interpretation of real acoustic data and will be able to process that data based on the knowledge acquired.
The students will gain adequate basic knowledge of acoustic localization methods, and they will have the opportunity to decide which method to use when collecting real data at sea and when processing data. Furthermore, they will be able to apply the learnt methods in real data while making their own judgments on what is the best method for each case.
Students will improve their ability to communicate the results of the acoustic challenge experiments in front of a panel of experts, to work in teams, to operate autonomously, and to easily integrate into a professional audience.
Students will have acquired the ability to work in a team, operate independently, and integrate easily into the workplace. Additionally, students will improve their problem-solving skills by addressing issues encountered in analyzing and processing the data collected at sea.
Technical background in Engineering, Maritime Archaeology, Marine Biology, Oceanography or related fields.
The teaching is organized in different parts offering a very strong hands-on activities and applicative parts:
lectures where latest scientific research and results are presented;
field demonstrations which showcase the latest technology achievements made by research groups and companies;
tutorials which offer hands-on experience working with complex and modern underwater systems;
company presentations with insight from company professionals about their company and company products.
The grading will be provided through the acoustic localization challenge. Students will have a task to solve in groups, and they will go at sea on a boat to collect data that they need to process to solve the challenge. On the last day, students present their solutions and are graded.
Full program and schedule as well as all other info are available on https://bts.fer.hr/
The expected learning outcomes can contribute to the achievements of the following goals: Goal 13: Climate Action; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 4: Quality Education.
Breaking the Surface (BTS) is an international workshop for maritime robotics, featuring lectures, field demos, and tutorials for knowledge exchange. Any student or professional can directly register on the website https://bts.fer.hr/
The full program with biographies and abstracts of each lecture, tutorial and demo is available at: https://bts.fer.hr/program-2025/
- Each speaker will provide reference texts during the presentations.