Marine robotics
University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UZG)
Reference Teacher: Nikola Mišković
Teacher(s): Nikola Mišković, Đula Nađ, Fausto Ferreira, Roee Diamant
Marine robotics is a branch of robotics that places emphasis on unmanned, autonomous marine vessels that find their application underwater and on water. Marine robotics has applications in exploration and conservation of marine species, habitats, and underwater cultural heritage, in aquaculture, maritime safety, offshore industry, and many others. This course focuses on navigation, guidance, and control of autonomous vessels (underwater and surface), as an upgrade on the topics of acoustic communication, sensors and mathematical modelling that are covered in the first part of the semester.
Master program
The students will acquire knowledge in the area of marine robotics and specific knowledge on applications of marine robotics. The students will also develop a good capability to understand the practical issues of autonomous vessels through laboratory exercises.
During the laboratory exercises, the students will acquire practical skills and apply them to a real robot in a pool environment. They will also gain hands-on experience in scientific analysis and interpretation of real collected data for what concerns navigation, guidance and control of marine robots.
The students will gain adequate basic knowledge on how to navigate, guide and control marine robots, and they will have the opportunity to make decisions on tuning controllers’ parameters during the exercises in the pool. Furthermore, they will be able to apply the learnt methods in real operations while making their own judgments on what is the best method for each case.
Students will improve their ability to communicate by working in teams, to operate autonomously, and to easily integrate into real life operations.
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 performing both simulations and experiments with a real vehicle and while addressing issues encountered in real experiments.
No prerequisites
Theoretical lectures with practical examples. Group activities for improved learning in classes. Laboratory exercises consist of a simulation and a practical part. Simulation laboratory exercises in MATLAB/Simulink accompany theoretical lectures and cover all system components for navigation, guidance and control of an autonomous vessel. The final laboratory exercises combine all components into a complete system and are performed on a real vehicle in the LABUST pool.
The students are evaluated on the basis of the final exam and the laboratory exercises.
For further information or specific inquiries, you may contact the Student office at the following link:
https://www.fer.unizg.hr/en/studies/useful_information
The expected learning outcomes can contribute to the achievements of the following goals: Goal 13: Climate Action; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 4: Quality Education.
The “Marine Robotics” course is part of all Master students’ programs at UZG (both English and Croatian) as an elective course, and it is accessible to all students enrolled in Master studies and all Erasmus incoming students.
More information at the following link: https://www.fer.unizg.hr/en/studies/master
Weekly Schedule:
The role and classification of marine robots in the exploration and exploitation of oceans and seas.
Brief overview of other – sensing used in marine robots.
- Thor I. Fossen (2002.), Marine Control Systems.
- Thor I. Fossen (2011.), Handbook of Marine Craft Hydrodynamics and Motion Control, John Wiley & Sons
- Nikola Mišković (.), Use of self-oscillations in guidance and control of marine vessels.