Underwater robots to monitor the health of fresh and salt waters and the seabed: this is the aim of the project Panacea managed by the Universities of Pisa and Florence. The goal is to succeed replace human explorations in dangerous and risky underwater environments with cutting-edge machines, capable of guaranteeing a standard completely similar to the surveys carried out by real scientists. The project therefore presents an “emblematic” case study – he explains Riccardo Costanziprofessor of robotics at the University of Pisa and coordinator of the project – that of Posidonia oceanicaconsidered a key natural habitat by the European Union and whose monitoring is essential to know the health of our seas and to preserve it”.
Zeno_HR – panacea
An underwater robot, a surface robot and artificial intelligence to communicate
The team is working on the creation of a multi-robot system, composed of an underwater robot and a surface robot, capable of interfacing with operators on land, who receive data in real time. A study that minimizes the risks and limitations of human monitoring, also reducing the time for data collection.
“The monitoring of the seabed is carried out with both visual and acoustic techniques – he adds Alessandro Ridolfiprofessor of robotics at the University of Florence – e we use artificial intelligence techniques to extract synthetic data from all those acquired. The robot’s ability to extract and transmit only synthetic data is fundamental, given that communication possibilities are reduced in water.”
The project received funding from the Ministry of University and Research as part of the Projects of significant national interest call. “Panacea represents a further significant step forward in the conservation of marine biodiversity – he states Elena Maggiprofessor of ecology at the University of Pisa – The monitoring of oceanic posidonia meadows, fundamental for the health and protection of Mediterranean coastal systems and at the same time extremely delicate, represents a considerable challenge”.
From left Andrea Caiti, director of the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa, Luigi Cipriani, Tuscany Region, Riccardo Costanzi, UNIPI robotics professor and coordinator of the PANACEA project, Francesco Ruscio, postdoc in UNIPI underwater robotics, Elena Maggi, professor of Ecology UNIPI, Alberto Topini, postdoc in underwater robotics University of Florence
