Robot Ecosystems for Monitoring Climate Change [REMCC]

Whiteside, Lauryn; Bonofiglio, Kalina; Haahr, Matthew; Angeles, Maya; Palmer, Joshua; Simpson, Brandon

Student Work

Robot Ecosystems for Monitoring Climate Change [REMCC]

Public Deposited

The effects of climate change are far-reaching and difficult to accurately predict. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates 0.26 – 0.77m of average sea level rise by the year 2100. The difference in these estimates will impact the lives of more than 10 million people. We designed an underactuated underwater glider with a closed-loop fluidic controller; soft hydrostatic pressure sensor; and custom electronic sensor board that measures temperature, pressure, and orientation. Our proof-of-concept designs are incorporated into a low-cost, power efficient glider that is easy to customize and fabricate. When deployed, the glider will be able to monitor the thickness of an ice sheet while collecting data on essential ocean variables. Our approach seeks to provide physical oceanographers with inexpensive tools that allow for collecting spatially distributed data sets with the end-goal of predicting sea levels more accurately than currently possible, and ultimately suggest timelines for installing important countermeasures to combat floods.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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