Pristupačnost
Breaking the Surface (BtS) is an international interdisciplinary field workshop on maritime robotics and its applications, organized by FER's LABUST – the Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies, for the 16th consecutive year. The event will take place from September 29 to October 6, 2024, in Biograd na Moru.
Until 2013, BtS meetings were held in Murter, from 2014 to 2022 in Biograd na Moru, and in 2023, for the first time outside Croatia, in Kumbor, Montenegro. This year, BtS returns to the Croatian coast.
More details about the workshop can be found on the official Breaking the Surface website.
Since 2009, BtS has been a meeting point for international experts, university professors, scientists, industry representatives, and students from various fields. It provides an excellent opportunity for all participants to share and expand their knowledge, not only in maritime robotics but also to learn about the latest developments in maritime biology, oceanography, and archaeology.
This year’s BtS is organized with financial support from the UWIN-LABUST (ERA Chair project in the Internet of Underwater Things), which aims to create conditions and opportunities for high-quality researchers and research managers to engage in achieving excellence in a sustainable manner in the field of the Internet of Underwater Things. The MARBLE project, through partnership collaboration, will prepare an innovative joint master's program dedicated to maritime robotics in the blue economy. The SeaTecHub project aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystems of Croatia and Cyprus and improve cross-border cooperation between the two countries in the area of eco-innovative technologies for healthy and productive seas. Additionally, other project that support BtS are the well-known MONUSEN project, the uBlueTec project funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund, and the MASK (Marine Robots for better Sea Knowledge awareness) project funded by the Erasmus+ program.
This year, around 200 workshop participants are expected from over 20 different countries worldwide, including students, scientists, and entrepreneurs in the fields of robotics, archaeology, biology, geology, and other sciences that rely on the use of robots in maritime research. Representatives from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Haifa, the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and many others will share their experiences and knowledge through lectures and demonstrations. One day of the workshop will be dedicated to the finalists and winners of the MBZIRC 2023 competition, who will present their work.