A New Age for Underwater Autonomy
and provide AUVs with robust decision-making capabilities. A New System for Underwater Automation Professor Brian Williams is the principal developer of a new mission-planning system for AUVs, developed by MIT engineers in collaboration with Dr. Richard Camilli’s team at the Deep Submergence Lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). The new programming approach gives robots more “cognitive” capabilities, enabling humans to specify high-level goals, while a robot performs high-level decision-making to figure out how to achieve these goals. Williams explains
Bellingham Named Director of WHOI Robotics Center
Foundation Larry Clark. “We've worked with Jim since his days at MIT in the early ‘90s. Our relationship has been both collaborative and respectfully competitive,” said interim CMR Director Dana Yoerger, a leading researcher in robotics and unmanned vehicles with the WHOI Deep Submergence Lab. “Jim has been a leader in developing robotic technologies and methodologies that have created new opportunities across many oceanographic disciplines. CMR has found a capable, experienced leader in subsea robotics with unmatched credentials and accomplishments who appreciates
December 2025
