eUReady4OS - Underwater Robotics Ready for Oil Spill

Underwater robotics is widely used in the military and scientific domains, but not yet by Maritime Safety Agencies (MSAs). The project challenge is to prepare strategies and teams to deal with an oil spill emergency. Thus, a fleet of autonomous vehicles will provide earlier detection and tracking of in-water oil plumes to feed numerical models and increase the preparedness to reduce the consequences of the oil spill on the coast. This Project is an extension of the URready4OS funded in the 2013. Our proposed strategy to accelerate the use of robotics against oil spills is twofold. On one hand, we have expanded (compared to the former project) the number of countries and teams with available vehicles from universities and research centres to increase the capabilities to handle an emergency elsewhere in European Seas. Secondly, we will transfer the know-how of these institutions to MSAs, performing training exercises on board of their rescue vessels and giving courses to their technical personnel in charge of this technology in a near future.

Project website

• Project reference: ECHO/SUB/2016/740129/PREP/21
• Coordinator: Dr. Javier Gilabert, Universidad Politècnica de Cartagena
• Budget: 774.739 €
• Duration: 01/01/17 – 31/12/18
• UIB Project Coordinator: Dr. Gabriel Oliver
•  Objectives
  1. Expand the already existing URready40S fleet (from 5 to 12 assets)
  2. Provide training to new vehicles teams joining the fleet
  3. Improve the current URready40S system
  4. Transfer the know-how to Maritime Safety Agencies
More info...

A. Martorell. Design and control of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle to improve Link Communications. 2018.