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The euRathlon project was an FP7-funded Coordination and Support Action (2013‐2015). Its main aim was to organize outdoor robotics competitions in realistic search and rescue response scenarios for cooperative land, sea, and air robots. Participant teams were requested to test the intelligence and autonomy of their robots in scenarios inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. In the project's third year euRathlon culminated with the organization of the first outdoor multi-domain search and rescue robotics competition in the world: the euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge. Sea, air, and land robots were asked to cooperate acting as a robotic intervention team in a scenario simulating an industrial area ravaged by a tsunami. The Grand Challenge was held in Piombino, Italy, in the surroundings of the Tor del Sale power plant, from September 17 to 25. To prepare the teams for the Grand Challenge, two competitions, dedicated to land and marine robots, respectively, took place in 2013 and 2014. In all the competitions, a strong effort was made in benchmarking what led to meaningful and reasonable scoring principles. Workshops and educational activities complemented the competitions. In this paper, we will focus on the marine robotics competitions of euRathlon with a particular focus on the Grand Challenge. Both technical achievements and general results are presented. The results in terms of team participation and the fruitful effort in dissemination led to establish euRathlon Grand Challenge as the de facto leading search and rescue outdoor robotics competition in Europe.

The problem of motion control of underwater vehicles in both the fully actuated and under-actuated configurations is often confronted by the marine technology community. This paper presents a nonlinear control method for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) traveling along a planned planar path in both actuation configurations. The common objectives of path-following control for both fully actuated and under-actuated vehicles are described, and the differences in the necessary path-following control designs are analyzed, showing that the side-slip angle of the vehicle plays an important role in the evolution of the dynamics of AUVs with different actuation configurations. Based on the presented analysis, nonlinear controllers for the two types of AUV configurations are proposed, and the inherent characteristics of under-actuation and full actuation are revealed by a dedicated analysis of numerical simulation paradigms, the results of which will be instrumental in guiding marine technology engineers in the practical design and control of AUVs.

With one small move across a street, NOAA Fisheries, our nation's steward of marine ecosystems, made a giant leap into the future of ocean science and technology development. The new Southwest Fisheries Science Center facility in La Jolla, California, houses dozens of interdisciplinary research and engineering groups and features a world-class Ocean Technology Development Tank that expands the possibilities for advancing marine industry and science. This 20 × 10 × 10-meter, two-million-liter, freshwater or seawater “Tech Tank” is clear, quiet, and large enough to calibrate and test a wide variety of sensitive instruments with minimal boundary effects. The tank's temperature, salinity, and circulation can be made to mimic the broad range of water conditions encountered in the field, its water conditioning system greatly mitigates microbubbles and turbidity, and it can accommodate live marine animals. This unique combination of features opens doors to efficient engineering and scientific experimentation. The Tech Tank, supported by scientists and engineers and co-located with other state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, is a unique national resource for marine research and development and a catalyst for government, academic, and industry partnerships. The broad range of new possibilities is exemplified by multiple recent collaborative developments of acoustic and optical sensors and sensor platforms that effectively expand the boundaries of oceanic sampling, particularly near the sea surface, seabed, and seashore, to more efficiently and accurately monitor large marine ecosystems.

This article introduces an issue of the Marine Technology Society Journal focused on the understanding and ongoing exchange of information on underwater munitions. In June 2003, the Canadian Standing Senate Committee for Fisheries and Oceans on Fish Habitat listened to a panel of witnesses urgently request greater federal involvement from entities other than the Department of National Defense in addressing the issue of underwater munitions in both Canadian and international waters. When there was a lack of response from governments, as well as the United Nations, the First International Conference on Chemical and Conventional Munitions convened in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in October 2007. Over 190 delegates from 14 countries affected by underwater munitions attended the conference and collectively submitted more than 50 papers. The author discusses the history of underwater munitions and explores relationships among international stakeholders which allow them to build on each others' experiences. The increasing awareness of and interest in identification and assessment of potential risks to human health and the environment by underwater munitions is explored.

There are approximately 100 active manned submersibles in operation around the world; in this overview we refer to all non-military manned underwater vehicles that are used for scientific, research, tourism, and commercial diving applications, as well as personal leisure craft. The Marine Technology Society committee on Manned Underwater Vehicles (MUV) maintains the only comprehensive database of active submersibles operating around the world and endeavors to continually bring together the international community of manned submersible operators, manufacturers and industry professionals. The database is maintained through contact with manufacturers, operators and owners through the Manned Submersible program held yearly at the Underwater Intervention conference.The most comprehensive and detailed overview of this industry is given during the UI conference, and this article cannot cover all developments within the allocated space; therefore our focus is on a compendium of activity provided from the most dynamic submersible builders, operators and research organizations that contribute to the industry and who share their latest information through the MTS committee. This article presents a short overview of submersible activity in 2007, including new submersible construction, operation and regulatory activity of research, tourism, commercial diving and recreational applications. The scope of this article is limited to active atmospheric submersibles, and does not include historical, ambient pressure, or laid-up submersibles, which would be an entire article on its own. For a complete overview that includes submersibles not covered in this article, readers are invited to peruse the MTS Manned Underwater Vehicle online database at the committee's website (www.mtsmuv.org).

Recent seminal studies of national ocean policy have focused the attention of the marine science and technology communities on the possibility of outcomes in the near future. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy offered over two hundred recommendations, and has raised expectations for a period of heightened ocean interest. In response to the policy recommendations of the Commission, the President has set certain policies through his December 2004 Executive Order on Ocean Policy and through the issuance of the U.S. Ocean Action Plan. This Plan holds promise for the technology community. With the opportunities of technology advancement, however, come the uncertainties of change. Using the Integrated Ocean Observing System as an example of beneficial change, both in collection methodologies and integration of science data, and in proposing the legal complexities of Autonomous Undersea Vehicle strandings and unwanted recovery, the authors demonstrate examples of the benefits and uncertainties ahead, all of which comprise opportunity.

We conducted a 9-day field test of laser line scan (LLS) imaging technology to characterize and explore seafloor habitats in and around the Big Creek Marine Ecological Reserve (BCER) within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary off the central California coast. Our goal was to evaluate the utility of LLS technology for assessing the distribution and abundance offish, megafaunal invertebrates, and seafloor habitats, and to compare LLS images with those acquired from side-scan sonar and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). We surveyed an area approximately 2.6 km long and 0.4 km wide, extending inside and directly outside BCER. Using LLS technology, we imaged isolated rock outcrops with patches of large sea anemones and dense groups of fishes, drift kelp, sea pens, salp chains, and individual, sedentary benthic fishes (including California halibut, Pacific electric ray, ratfish, and juvenile lingcod). As can be achieved with side-scan sonar, the LLS system also did an excellent job of imaging structural details of low-relief features such as sand waves and ripples. The LLS system offered the advantage of imaging some of the biogenic components of habitat and of describing their spatial relationships with detail that currently is not possible using acoustic techniques such as side-scan and multibeam sonar. However, the ROV far exceeded the capability of a LLS system to discern organisms at the highest possible taxonomic level, which ultimately will affect measures of diversity. The ability to visualize the seafloor in a broad context from a mosaic of LLS images could help us understand physical and anthropogenic (e.g., bottom trawling) processes that influence dynamic benthic habitats. Further development and use of LLS technology have the potential to improve our understanding, quantification, and protection of fish habitats.

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission, and Staff... it is an honor and a pleasure to have the opportunity to discuss ocean sciences education and outreach with you this morning. For nearly three decades, I have been working at the “grass roots” level with both preK-12 teachers and students and for the last 15 years I have had the added opportunity to work with the general public about global climate change, ocean sciences, and coastal processes—across all disciplines. It is also noteworthy to mention that I am a Past-President of the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) and the Mississippi Science Teachers Association. And, I have been the Education Chair for the Marine Technology Society for the last nine years. I also served on a one-year Interagency Governmental Personnel Act as the Director of Education for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program.

In this commentary, Andrew M. Clark, Marine Technology Society fellow and past president, notes some of the incremental improvements to and maturation of ocean observing systems since technological breakthroughs were reported on in 2003. The two national ocean observing initiatives in the United States, the Integrated Ocean Observing System and the Ocean Observatories Initiative, are discussed, as well as the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatories research infrastructure and the European Seas Observatory Network of Excellence. Examination is made of issues such as federal funding and support, the role of industry (including federal and industrial partnering), and symposia.

The Galileo spacecraft has sent back tantalizing image data hinting at a vast ocean beneath a thick ice crust on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons which is about the size of our moon. NASA plans to establish definitively whether this ocean exists with the Europa Orbiter mission to be launched in 2003. Should the Europa ocean be a reality, and this looks quite likely, it will mean that another planet besides Earth has an old, deep, salty ocean; the consequences of such an ocean are profound, and there are good reasons to be prepared to take the next step, an in-situ examination of this ocean. A deep subsurface in-situ study of another planetary body has never been attempted, and the challenges are considerable. In this paper we address the technology to be developed to be ready for this exciting mission, and we seek to initiate the exchanges needed between the marine technology and space exploration communities.

This article presents the Marine Technology Society (MTS) mission statement in supporting the proposal of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to increase the investment in the national endeavor and observations, public education and outreach. The MTS mission is to: disseminate marine science and technical knowledge; promote and support education for marine scientists, engineers, and technicians; advance the development of tools and procedures required to explore, study and further the responsible and sustainable use of the oceans; and provide services that create a broader understanding of the relevance of the marine sciences to other technologies, arts, and human affairs.