Carlos Mão de Ferro, LASIGE’s PhD student, was selected to attend the 1st MIT Portugal’s Marine Robotics summer course. The course was organised by the MIT Portugal Program (MPP) in collaboration with the LSTS – Underwater Systems and Technology Laboratory (FEUP), the participation of Colab +Atlantic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the School of Engineering from the University of Minho. The first edition took place at FEUP.

From July 19 to 30, the participants were presented with a comprehensive overview of Marine Robotics, focusing on applications in ocean observation, underwater archaeology, and ecosystems mapping. The students were divided into teams and worked on assembling an underwater glider. Each team also presented a proposal to use the gliders as a tool for oceanography research in a novel way. The goal was for it to be impactful on the oceanographic and marine robotics community.

Mão de Ferro’s team proposal was for the monitoring of the thermohaline circulation in the Antarctic area. For the PhD student, the interdisciplinarity of the course was an enriching experience. The course also provided Mão de Ferro with an exciting networking opportunity given the diversity of his colleagues’ backgrounds. He highly recommends LASIGE students to participate in the following editions.

Photo: MIT Portugal