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Aquatic Robots: Engineering the Future of Ocean Science

Hear from engineers and researchers at MIT and WHOI about how advances in robotics are unlocking new tools for understanding our oceans.

Oceans play a crucial role in supporting life on earth – regulating the climate, driving global weather systems, and harboring over 80% of Earth’s biodiversity. In an age of planetary crisis, understanding our oceans has never been more vital. Recent advances in robotics are expanding the frontiers of ocean science, offering new tools to explore, monitor, and understand marine environments with unprecedented precision and reach. This event brings together experts from both engineering and marine science to examine how robotic technologies can be designed and deployed to meet the specific and evolving needs of marine research.

Speakers include Raphael Zufferey, a Swiss engineer and recently appointed professor at MIT, whose work focuses aerial-aquatic bio-inspired robots; Dana Yoerger, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), with extensive experience in underwater vehicle systems; and Annette Govindajaran, Research Scientist at WHOI, whose research centers on data integration in ocean observation, with a focus on biodiversity.

Through presentations and a discussion, the speakers will explore current gaps in marine research infrastructure, the opportunities and limitations of robotic systems in ocean science, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between technologists and marine researchers.

Program

  • 5:30pm – Doors open
  • 6:00pm – Welcome remarks
  • 6:05pm – Presentation & discussion
  • 6:50pm – Q&A
  • 7:05pm – Apéro
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Event start time

  • Boston

    5:30PM

Speakers

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    Bio

    Raphael Zufferey

    Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
    MIT

    Raphael Zufferey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. His research focuses on bio-inspired robotics, with particular attention to multimodal locomotion systems capable of navigating air, water, and intermediate environments. He received his PhD in Aeronautics from Imperial College London, followed by postdoctoral positions at EPFL and the University of Seville. His interdisciplinary work bridges robotics, fluid mechanics, and control theory, and has been recognized with several international awards.

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    Bio

    Dana Yoerger

    Senior Scientist
    Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
    Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

    Dana Yoerger is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a pioneer in deep-sea robotics. He has played a leading role in the development of autonomous underwater vehicles such as Jason, Sentry, and Nereus, which have been instrumental in scientific exploration of the deep ocean, including expeditions to the Mariana Trench and investigations of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Dana holds SB, SM, and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is a Fellow of the IEEE.

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    Bio

    Annette Govindarajan

    Research Specialist
    Molecular Ecology
    Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

    Annette Govindarajan is a molecular ecologist and research scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her work centers on understanding biodiversity and ecosystem function in the ocean’s mesopelagic “twilight zone.” She employs molecular techniques such as environmental DNA (eDNA) and high-throughput sequencing to study marine invertebrates, often in collaboration with cutting-edge ocean robotics programs like Mesobot and Deep-See. Annette holds a PhD in Biological Oceanography from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program.

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