Autonomous robot maps coral reefs

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers said on May 13 that an autonomous underwater robot named CUREE can find and map biodiversity hotspots on coral reefs by combining passive acoustics with visual sensing. The work was published in *Science Robotics* this week and centers on a multimodal autonomous underwater vehicle designed to identify where marine life concentrates at fine spatial scales. Lead author Seth McCammon said the system can quantify reef “hotspots” at centimeter scale, a level of detail that has been difficult to capture with diver surveys alone. The case study in the paper used the robot on a healthy Caribbean reef, where it located a hotspot around a large *Dendrogyra* pillar coral. ### What exactly did the robot do on the reef? CUREE used cameras, hydrophones and onboard computing to analyze audio and visual signals in real time, according to the Woods Hole release. The researchers said the robot could autonomously identify areas of higher biological activity by combining direct observations, such as animal detections, with indirect cues from reef soundscapes and the behavior of “sentinel” species. (whoi.edu) The *Science Robotics* paper described four operating modes: a visual fish census, acoustic hotspot mapping, acoustic homing using biological signatures, and visual tracking of sentinel species. The study said those modes let the vehicle use both open-loop and closed-loop autonomous control while searching for biological hotspots. (whoi.edu) ### Why combine sound and vision underwater? The paper said reef fauna can be hard to observe with any single sensor because some species are camouflaged, hidden, or more detectable by sound than by sight. Passive acoustics can pick up broader biological activity, while cameras provide close-range visual confirmation and habitat context. (science.org) WHOI said the combined system is intended to show not only where marine life is concentrated, but also how those concentrations relate to reef structure. McCammon said reefs are not uniformly biodiverse and that the new approach makes it possible to measure those patchy areas more reliably. ### Where was the system tested? The *Science Robotics* study said the featured case study took place on a healthy Caribbean reef. (science.org) In that deployment, the autonomous vehicle used passive acoustics and visual sensing to locate a biodiversity hotspot around a large *Dendrogyra* pillar coral, then used colocated multimodal data to validate the hotspot’s prominence. (whoi.edu) Earlier CUREE field deployments described by the same research group took place on coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those tests showed the platform could perform soundscape surveys, habitat characterization and animal following, including tracking a barracuda and a stingray for several minutes. ### Who built it? The *Science Robotics* paper listed Seth McCammon, Levi Cai, Daniel Yang, John Walsh, John D. (science.org) Cast, T. Aran Mooney and Yogesh Girdhar as authors. WHOI said CUREE, short for Curious Underwater Robot for Ecosystem Exploration, was developed as part of the institution’s Reef Solutions Initiative. Yogesh Girdhar leads the Woods Hole Autonomous Robotics and Perception Laboratory, which has been developing the platform over several years. (par.nsf.gov) A 2023 paper on the system described capabilities including low-altitude visual surveys, soundscape surveys, habitat characterization and animal following. ### What comes next for the project? The WHOI release said the system is meant to help scientists identify, map and monitor fine-scale reef biodiversity in support of conservation and ecological research. (whoi.edu) The paper said there is an “urgent need” to expand this kind of work across unexplored reefs worldwide, especially as coral reefs face pressure from warming waters, disease, overfishing and coastal development. (arxiv.org) The next public milestone is the newly published *Science Robotics* paper, “Autonomous seeking and mapping coral reef biodiversity hotspots with a multimodal AUV,” dated May 2026. WHOI also said images and video from the project were released with the May 13 announcement. (whoi.edu)