Autonomous Sea Turtle Robot for Marine Fieldwork
Zach J. Patterson, Emily Sologuren, Levi Cai, Daniel Kim, Alaa Maalouf, Pascal Spino, Daniela Rus

TL;DR
This paper introduces a bioinspired autonomous underwater robot modeled after sea turtles, capable of safe navigation and tracking in complex marine environments, validated through controlled experiments and real-world reef deployment.
Contribution
It presents the first integrated biomimetic robotic system with hardware, control, and field validation for marine animal tracking in natural habitats.
Findings
Achieved 91% obstacle avoidance success in reef environment
Demonstrated stable operation and reliable tracking of marine animals and divers
Developed a low-compute onboard tracking mode for autonomous navigation
Abstract
Autonomous robots can transform how we observe marine ecosystems, but close-range operation in reefs and other cluttered habitats remains difficult. Vehicles must maneuver safely near animals and fragile structures while coping with currents, variable illumination and limited sensing. Previous approaches simplify these problems by leveraging soft materials and bioinspired swimming designs, but such platforms remain limited in terms of deployable autonomy. Here we present a sea turtle-inspired autonomous underwater robot that closed the gap between bioinspired locomotion and field-ready autonomy through a tightly integrated, vision-driven control stack. The robot combines robust depth-heading stabilization with obstacle avoidance and target-centric control, enabling it to track and interact with moving objects in complex terrain. We validate the robot in controlled pool experiments and…
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Taxonomy
TopicsUnderwater Vehicles and Communication Systems · Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms · Soft Robotics and Applications
