About Fleet Robotics:

Fleet Robotics is a Harvard University and VC-incubated green-tech startup developing its first product, an underwater robot to inspect and maintain ship hulls.

We are tackling a thousand-year-old problem: the growth of biofouling on ships. Biofouling is the growth of microorganisms, algae, barnacles, and larger ocean organisms on the ship’s hull. As the ship delivers our goods around the world, the growth of these organisms significantly increases the drag forces on the ship and in doing so, significantly increases fuel consumption. Ships are the world’s largest consumers of carbon-heavy fuels (called bunker fuels). A covering of biofouling just half a millimeter thick can increase emissions up to 30%, which translates to multiple tons of bunker fuel per day, per ship.

Conventionally, the commercial shipping industry handles biofouling in two ways: preventatively, by coating the ship’s hull in a highly toxic paint that discourages growth, and reactively, by stopping operations every 6-months or so to have divers scrape off growth that accumulates anyway (not to mention scraping off the toxic paint). We think this is akin to deciding never to brush your teeth because you go to the dentist every five years. There is a better way.

Our small autonomous swarm of robots lives on the side of the ship hull for years, gently removing the earliest stage of biofouling on a regular basis. This early-stage biofouling is easy-to-remove slime. The technical challenge lies in having a robot that can withstand the harsh environments of adhering to the ship hull while the ship is underway, underwater, anywhere in the world – totally autonomously. By removing slime often and early, we prevent the growth of macrofouling, significantly reduce fuel consumption, and prevent the spread of invasive species from port to port.

Project Title – 3D Mapping for Underwater Robotics

Project Description:  

We are seeking a highly motivated robotics PhD student to join our team and solve novel challenges in autonomous navigation and surface inspection. You will develop algorithms that allow an autonomous climbing robot to map the surface geometry of skyscraper-sized cargo ship hulls, under harsh operating conditions that include regularly moving into and out of water. You will collaborate with the software team to research and build SLAM algorithms using novel sensing modalities, participate in field tests and data collections on ship hulls, and analyze algorithm performance on collected robot sensor data. This project will provide a unique opportunity to translate academic literature to a real world application, while also developing industry programming and software design skills to apply after your graduate degree.

This project is open to students who are funded on an NSF Grant or who have NSF GRFP funding.

Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes Required:

• Experience with algorithms for some of the following:
• Robotic perception
  • Robotic localization, mapping, and SLAM
  • Point cloud processing
  • Working with 3D geometries and surfaces
• Python and/or C++ programming.
• Familiarity with libraries for robotic perception and/or 3D data processing, such as OpenCV, Open3D, or PCL.
• Experience working with robotics or embedded hardware nice-to-have.
• In person work required, Somerville MA