Underwater Robotics - Thesis Undergradate​/Master's​/PhD Students

Master’s Thesis at Fleet Robotics

Fleet Robotics is a spinout from the Harvard Microrobotics Lab and VC-incubated green-tech startup developing its first product, an underwater robot to inspect and maintain ship hulls. At Fleet, we regularly host master’s students looking for real-world problems to solve in a start-up environment for their thesis.

We have historically hosted EPL, ETH, Tufts, WPI, MIT, and Harvard students. Students at other universities are also encouraged to apply. Typically, students are self-funded or receive scholarships from their university or NSF - Fleet Robotics does not provide funding but provides software or hardware resources. While most students have completed their Master’s Thesis, we have had both PhD and undergraduate students work with us in the past.

Thesis-level projects broadly include:

• Underwater localization & navigation, SLAM
• Image recognition and stitching
• Swarm robotic systems
• Machine learning
• Magnetics
• Ultrasonic and ultrasound systems
• Biofouling detection and characterization
• Variable Stiffness Actuators (VSAs), locomotion compliance systems for rough surfaces

We are tackling a thousand-year-old problem: the growth of biofouling on ships. Biofouling is the growth of microorganisms, algae, barnacles, and larger ocean organisms on the ship’s hull. As the ship delivers our goods around the world, the growth of these organisms significantly increases the drag forces on the ship and in doing so, significantly increases fuel consumption. Ships are the world’s largest consumers of carbon-heavy fuels (called bunker fuels).

A covering of biofouling just half a millimeter thick can increase emissions up to 30%, which translates to multiple tons of bunker fuel per day, per ship.

Conventionally, the commercial shipping industry handles biofouling in two ways: preventatively, by coating the ship’s hull in a highly toxic paint that discourages growth, and reactively, by stopping operations every 6-months or so to have divers scrape off years of fouling that grows anyway (not to mention scraping off the toxic paint). We think this is akin to deciding never to brush your teeth because you go to the dentist every five years.

There has to be a better way.

Our small autonomous swarm of robots lives on the side of the ship hull for years, gently removing the earliest stage of biofouling on a weekly basis. This early-stage biofouling is easy-to-remove slime. The technical challenge lies in having a robot that can withstand the harsh environments of adhering to the ship hull while the ship is underway, underwater, anywhere in the world - totally autonomously.

By removing slime often and early, we prevent the growth of macrofouling, significantly reduce fuel consumption, and prevent the spread of invasive species from port to port. Eventually, we aim for our robots to eliminate the need for toxic anti-fouling paints entirely.