Citizens marine pilots: Increasing autonomous surface vehicles navigation capabilities with and for the public

Most of the world population lives by a water body. Observing, caring and understanding the ocean is vital for all. Among several branches of robotics - marine robotics creates the most interdisciplinary and participatory scientific pool, bringing citizen and scientists close to the use of aquatic robots. International efforts, such as the EU-funded MONUSEN project, are pioneering the technological transfer across borders, disciplines and people, therefore sustaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 14 Life below Water). In particular, under MONUSEN we carried out two activities involving the general public, demonstrating the use and utility of cost effective technology. The first activity saw the presentation and usage of MARUS - Marine Robotic Unity Simulator - which offers advanced capabilities of generating realistic maritime environments allowing for closer-to-reality V&V - Verification & Validation - of applications developed for maritime vehicles. The second activity shared the functionality of the autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) SWAMP (Shallow Water Autonomous Multipurpose Platform). Participants piloted SWAMP ASV, collecting data along a predetermined path. Through the active involvement in data collection, they gained knowledge of state-of-the-art methods for controlling autonomous surface vehicles and contributed to a learning-by-imitation experiment. Both activities showed that the setting of the experiments and the visual interfaces effectively engaged a wide range of people belonging to different ages, cultures and education. The activities transferred new knowledge to the public, truly bringing them closer to the scientific work carried out in MONUSEN.