{"69925":{"#nid":"69925","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Robotic Surveys Help the Study of Weathered Crude Oil at Louisiana Coast","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOne year after the Deep Horizon oil spill disaster, researchers\nare trying to pinpoint the remnants of the 200 million gallons of crude oil\nleaked into the Gulf of Mexico. A multi-institution research group led by Fumin\nZhang, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer\nEngineering (ECE) at Georgia Tech, recently performed a 20-day survey using\nstudent-developed marine robots at Grand Isle State Park in Louisiana, an area\nheavily polluted by crude oil and is still undergoing cleaning efforts.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EJoining Dr. Zhang in this collaboration are Professor Michael\nMalisoff, a control theorist and mathematician from Louisiana State University,\nand Professor Mark Patterson, a marine scientist and robotics expert from the\nCollege of William and Mary; this activity is supported by the National Science\nFoundation. The research goal is to develop robotic surveying methods to\nprovide a fast response to evaluate the immediate as well as longer term\nenvironmental impact of the oil spill or future events of a similar nature. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech team has developed an autonomous boat named\nVictoria that successfully performed autonomous surveys over a 300mx100m tidal\nlagoon in the park under various weather conditions. The robotic surveying\nmethods provide a low cost and convenient way to collect data in the marsh\nareas that are difficult to access by human-based methods. Large amounts of\ndata have been recorded from a crude oil sensor mounted on Victoria, which\nindicated an average concentration of suspicious carbon-hydrates at the level\nof 20-50 parts per billion. Such concentration, if confirmed to come from crude\noil, is not considered acutely toxic to fish and wildlife, but may have long-term\nnegative effects that are yet to be understood.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to Victoria, the Georgia Tech team deployed a\nremotely operated underwater robot named ROV-Beta that has collected water and\nsediment samples at spots where Victoria sensed high carbon-hydrate\nconcentrations. The composition of the samples can be further analyzed to\nidentify the species of the carbon-hydrates. The ROV-Beta has demonstrated that\nit is able to collect the samples while keeping humans out of harm\u2019s way. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAn autonomous underwater vehicle, the Fetch, developed by the\nCollege of William and Mary, has been performing autonomous surveys side by\nside with Victoria. Drs. Zhang, Malisoff, and Patterson have developed a\ncontrol method that has enabled Victoria and Fetch to synchronize their motion.\nSuch cooperative behaviors between different types of vehicles are essential\nbuilding blocks toward developing a large scale, mobile sensor network to\nmonitor and protect a coastal area.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech team has had great\ncontributions from the following ECE and mechanical engineering (ME) graduate\nstudents: Shayok Mukhopadhyay (ECE), Steven Bradshaw (ECE), Chuanfeng Wang (ME),\nand undergraduate students Sean Maxon (ECE), Valerie Bazie (ECE), Phillip Cheng\n(ECE), and Brian Redden (ME). The full list of students who have designed and\nbuilt Victoria and ROV-Beta can be found at the website of the Georgia Tech-Savannah\nRobotics-\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtsr.gtsav.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/gtsr.gtsav.gatech.edu\/\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A multi-institution research group led by ECE Assistant Professor Fumin Zhang recently performed a 20-day survey using student-developed marine robots at Grand Isle State Park in Louisiana."}],"uid":"27241","created_gmt":"2011-09-09 10:41:38","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:09","author":"Jackie Nemeth","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"69920":{"id":"69920","type":"image","title":"Robotic surveying team members from Georgia Tech and the College of William and Mary.","body":null,"created":"1449177275","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:14:35","changed":"1475894614","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:34","alt":"Robotic surveying team members from Georgia Tech and the College of William and Mary.","file":{"fid":"192863","name":"oil_spill_project_1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":244627,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/oil_spill_project_1_0.jpg?itok=hdewrA0w"}},"69921":{"id":"69921","type":"image","title":"Fumin Zhang and the roboboat, Victoria","body":null,"created":"1449177275","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:14:35","changed":"1475894614","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:34","alt":"Fumin Zhang and the roboboat, Victoria","file":{"fid":"192864","name":"oil_spill_project_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":277239,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/oil_spill_project_2_0.jpg?itok=mKd5J4_z"}},"69924":{"id":"69924","type":"image","title":"Robotic surveying team","body":null,"created":"1449177275","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:14:35","changed":"1475894614","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:34","alt":"Robotic surveying team","file":{"fid":"192866","name":"oil_spill_project_3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_3_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/oil_spill_project_3_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":306073,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/oil_spill_project_3_0.jpg?itok=Kl-vjvww"}}},"media_ids":["69920","69921","69924"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech"},{"url":"http:\/\/gtsr.gtsav.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech-Savannah Robotics"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/fac_profiles\/bio.php?id=153","title":"Fumin Zhang"}],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"7045","name":"Fumin Zhang"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"14254","name":"Georgia Tech-Savannah Robotics"},{"id":"166855","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJackie Nemeth\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-894-2906\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jackie.nemeth@ece.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejackie.nemeth@ece.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jackie.nemeth@ece.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}