Summary: We've engineered a fully autonomous robot to sample bodies of water. The robot is capable of mapping hypoxic extents across expansive water bodies. But that's just the beginning. We've also crafted a suite of adaptive sampling algorithms that seek to get the job done quickly. Instead of relying on a rigid, time-consuming grid, our robots analyzes measurements in real-time on cloud-hosted servers to pinpoint precisely where the next sample should be taken.

Fundamental Advances: Autonomous exploration, adaptive sampling

Impacts: We're on a mission to crack the code of algal blooms and hypoxic zones in vast water systems. It's a critical challenge fueled by global environmental crises, from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay, where excess nutrient runoff triggers algal blooms and the emergence of 'dead zones.'