From the 2022-2023 CCOM/JHC-UNH OE Ocean seminar series, Val Schmidt, Research Project Engineer IV at CCOM, presents, "Adventures on the High Sea: Marine Robotics at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping." This talk was recorded in the Jere A.Chase Ocean Lab on the UNH campus in Durham, NH on October 14, 2022.
ABSRACT
Through grants awarded from NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey and Office of Ocean Exploration, the Center maintains a robust and active marine robotics program. The program’s mission has been to develop technologies and solutions that make the operation of sea-going robotic systems practical for production seafloor surveys and other marine science endeavors. Our strategy has been to go to sea, painstakingly identify what technologies must improve, and systematically work to find solutions to them. Along the way we have developed our own robotics framework to develop capabilities not yet available in the commercial systems we own, and to demonstrate new methods of operation. This talk will present sea stories, lessons learned and ongoing research from many recent deployments from both ship and shore.
BIO
Val Schmidt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of the South and a Master of Science degree in Ocean Engineering from the University of New Hampshire. He served as an officer in the US Navy’s submarine fleet from 1994-1999, and has worked in technical support of oceanographic research for nearly 30 years. Val has lead the CCOM's research efforts in the use of marine robotics for hydrographic mapping since 2008.
