Marine robotics: the results of MARBLE project were presented

The project “MARBLE – Maritime Robotics in the Blue Economy”, funded by Interreg Adrion and launched in January 2023, concluded with the creation of a solid foundation for the emergence of the first joint Master's programme on Maritime Robotics in the Blue Economy.

MARBLE is coordinated by the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Earth Sciences of the University of Trieste and also has as a partner the OGS. The project enabled the exchange of best practises and mobility between partners.

Two international and multidisciplinary workshops are particularly noteworthy, with the participation of more than 100 students from 6 different countries. The first one is the “Marble – Training week” that took place in Trieste in May and the “Marble Hackaton” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team consisting of the two Trieste students of the Master II in Robotics, Davide Vidmar and Ionut Alexandru Pascariu, was a finalist.

The ambitious challenge proposed by the boys was to use computer vision and AI techniques to develop a binary classifier to identify the presence of ostrich larvae in a water sample, while also determining the number of specimens. The collection of such data allows us to determine the best position for the placement of some underwater structures that can host the larvae in their metamorphosis phase from plankton to mussel.

The project is presented as part of the initiatives related to the PNRR INEST innovation ecosystem project. The results of their ambitious project were presented at the last MARBLE workshop “Breaking the Surface (BtS)”, which just ended in Kumbor (Montenegro). The partners of the project, led by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Zagreb, met to discuss the results achieved so far and future progress and developments.

The City of Trieste was represented by the University of Trieste thanks to the participation of Prof. Maria Cristina Pedicchio, by the OGS thanks to the contribution of Miro Gagic from the OGS on oceanographic properties and circulation in the Adriatic Sea, and by the Maritime Technology Cluster FVG. The other partners of the project were also present: Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) Agrifood Croatia, the National Technical University of Athens, the University of Montenegro and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Sarajevo.