Toy Closet

MIT-WHOI Joint Program alumnus and MIT professor Franz Hover stands in his Marine Robotics Lab surrounded several autonomous vehicles used by his current Joint Program students: Brooks Reed, Pedro Teixeira, and Chris Welch. The torpedo-shaped Vertical Glider Robot (lower right) is part of a multi-vehicle system concept to accurately place large numbers of sensors on the seafloor. The yellow Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (upper left) is a commercial version of an MIT-designed hull inspection vehicle. The PowerDock HAUV (lower left) was used to test an induction-charging system. Virgil (upper right) is a dynamically positioned raft for testing control algorithms.(Photo by Chris Welch, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)