Breaking the Surface

21/08/2026

🌊 How can autonomous marine robots transform the energy transition?

Maintaining and inspecting underwater energy infrastructure in harsh ocean environments is one of the toughest challenges facing the offshore industry today.

At Breaking the Surface 2026, Ignacio Carlucho (Ocean Systems Laboratory at Heriot-Watt University & The National Robotarium) will present "Marine Robots for the Energy Transition."

Discover cutting-edge research on:
🤖 Reinforcement learning for underwater vehicle control
🤝 Multi-agent coordination for cooperative inspections
📡 Perception systems utilizing sonar and optical mapping

👉 Read the full session abstract & details here: https://bts.fer.hr/session/marine-robots-for-the-energy-transition/

The offshore energy sector faces enormous challenges in maintaining and inspecting underwater infrastructure in hostile ocean environments. Autonomous marine robots offer a transformative solution, but achieving true autonomy in unstructured underwater settings remains an open research problem. In t...

17/08/2026

How do autonomous robots tackle the dirty, dangerous, and unpredictable jobs out in the wild? 🌊🤖

At , Eleni Kelasidi presents "Toward Robust Autonomy in Field Robotics" focusing on cutting-edge methods that keep robotic systems operating safely despite harsh conditions, sensor failures, and environmental uncertainty.

👉 Check out the full abstract and schedule:

Field robotics seeks to tackle some of society’s most dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs, from offshore inspection and environmental monitoring to industrial operations and exploration in extreme environments. Autonomous robots are increasingly deployed in complex and unstructured environments. While...

20/07/2026

🌊 What does a melting glacier sound like?

Polar fjords are on the front lines of climate change, but tracking exactly how fast they're losing ice is an massive challenge. Harsh weather, pitch-black polar nights, and hazardous, unstable ice walls make standard monitoring incredibly difficult.

That’s where passive underwater cryoacoustics comes in. By listening to the ocean, scientists are finding breakthroughs to link underwater melt and massive calving events directly to rising ocean temperatures.

Join us at Breaking the Surface for a fascinating lecture by Oskar Glowacki: "When Glaciers Meet the Ocean: Sensing Ice Loss in Polar Fjords."

Discover how autonomous observing systems and long-term acoustic monitoring are shifting our understanding of global sea-level rise. See you there! 👇
https://bts.fer.hr/session/when-glaciers-meet-the-ocean-sensing-ice-loss-in-polar-fjords/

Rising temperatures are driving rapid and accelerating loss of land-based ice, a major contributor to global sea-level rise and regional ocean freshening. Intrusions of warm ocean water to the ice–ocean boundary are among the primary drivers of mass loss from marine-terminating glaciers. However, ...

13/07/2026

🌊 One Autonomy Stack to rule them all - air, land, and sea!

How do you build a single universal framework capable of navigating a drone through dense forests, a ground robot through subterranean mines, and an autonomous sub through deep Norwegian fjords?

Find out at Breaking the Surface 2026! We are thrilled to host Kostas Alexis for his upcoming lecture: "Unified Autonomy across Air, Land, and Sea."

In this session, Kostas will dive into the Unified Autonomy Stack—a groundbreaking universal approach designed for resilient autonomous operations across entirely different robot structures and demanding environments. You’ll get a firsthand look at real-world experimental studies featuring:
🌲 Aerial navigation in complex forests & mines
🕳️ Subterranean ground operations
⚓ Underwater autonomy in fjords and submarine bunkers

Don't miss this deep dive into the future of cross-domain robotics!

🔗 Full session details here: https://bts.fer.hr/session/unified-autonomy-across-air-land-and-sea/

This talk presents progress on unified autonomy across diverse robot morphologies in the air, on land, and at sea. We detail the Unified Autonomy Stack, a universal approach for autonomous operations across diverse robot configurations, emphasizing both generality and resilient operations in demandi...

09/07/2026

🌊 How do we prepare the next generation of engineers for the real-world challenges of marine environments?
At this year's Breaking the Surface, join Thomas Glotzbach, Cathrin Schröder, and Klaus Pechan from Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM), Germany, as they share their innovative approach to engineering education!

In their lecture, "Usage of Marine Robotics in Undergraduate Education at Universities of Applied Sciences," they will discuss how they introduce hands-on marine robotics tasks to students right from their first year—building crucial problem-solving skills, troubleshooting agility, and frustration tolerance early on. 🛠️🛥️

The presentation will also feature a detailed look at "Axios", the marine surface robot developed at THM specifically for this practical training.
Read the full abstract and speaker bios here: https://bts.fer.hr/session/usage-of-marine-robotics-in-undergraduate-education-at-universities-of-applied-sciences/

In the undergraduate education in engineering study programmes, the teaching of practical skills is of uttermost importance to qualify the students for their later professional activities. This includes praxis-oriented thinking, troubleshooting, and frustration tolerance while solving technical prob...

24/04/2026

📢 ATTENTION STUDENTS: We want to see your work!

The Call for Posters is officially OPEN! 🚀 Whether you're finishing up a big project or deep into your research, this is your chance to shine and share your findings with the BtS community.

Everything you need to know is in the image below! 👇

📩 Check your email: If you’re subscribed to the BtS newsletter, the full details are waiting in your inbox.

Tag a classmate who needs to apply! 🎓

17/03/2026

The "Save the Date" newsletter is officially out—check your inbox and mark your calendars!

BtS is back in Croatia! After exploring Cyprus last year, the international interdisciplinary field workshop of maritime robotics and applications is coming to Vodice for 2026. Get ready for the tradition to continue in the heart of the Dalmatian coast ⚓

26/11/2025