Harnessing Multi-Domain and Multi-Disciplinary Robotics Methods to Strengthen Scientific Research and Inform Policy and Management

Abstract

During my PhD journey, I have lived at the intersection of a previous military career, leadership as an elected official, and a student passionate about robotics and protecting our beautiful coastal ecosystem. As a non-traditional student, Duke University has presented me with experiences I could not have imagined. With the Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing (MaRRS) Lab drones, I have had the opportunity to survey the mass nesting of thousands of olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica, hundreds of gray seals in Massachusetts, endangered right whales off the coast of Florida, dozens of World War I shipwrecks in Maryland, Etruscan and Roman archeological sites in Italy, and hundreds of seals in the Bering Sea. And there have been many more multi-domain surveys of our glorious coastal ecosystem in Carteret County. There have been more than our fair share of challenges during this time frame to include preparing and responding to Hurricanes Florence, Dorian, and Isaias, plus the COVID-19 pandemic. These events took a toll on many fronts, but also presented leadership opportunities. With our drones, we have been able to survey before and after storms, and we’re watching barrier islands move at centimeter scale. The increasing effects of climate change are very personal for those of us living in eastern North Carolina, but in the MaRRS Lab we are well postured with our robotics to air-, sea-, and ground-truth these effects. Perhaps most importantly, the knowledge I gained during my PhD program informed my policy positions during my tenure as the Mayor of the Town of Beaufort, NC. I am very proud of the progress that we made to include a massive clean-up of our waterways following Hurricane Florence, a Harbor Management Ordinance to better manage our waterways, expanded municipal jurisdiction to further manage our ecosystem, unprecedented repairs of infrastructure that were neglected for decades and have negatively affected our water quality, investment in the community, and a five-year budgeting plan to provide greater stability for Beaufort.This dissertation is a summation of some of the work performed during my Duke PhD experience. In Chapter 1, I describe the evolution of autonomous drones, define distinct generations of this technology, and articulate the negative impacts of a regulatory system that is stifling critical research. For Chapter 2, I discuss the lexicon, taxonomy, and ontology of small autonomous drones, the critical importance of situational awareness, and a framework of considerations and best practices for those interested in pursuing autonomous mobile robots to enhance their research. With Chapters 1 and 2 as a foundation, I next highlight my expansion to the marine domain for water quality research with autonomous surface vessels (Chapter 3) and multi-disciplinary archeological drone surveys in Vulci, Italy (Chapter 4). Finally in Chapter 5, I address scientific research that informed policy successes during my time as a mayor and PhD student. What a great journey!