The Annual Symposium of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) in Marine and Maritime Intelligent Robotics (MIR) and the MIR 2024 Robotics Championship showcased the latest advancements in marine and maritime intelligent robotics, from 11 and 13 June, at Técnico Congress Centre – Alameda campus and Centro Náutico do Parque das Nações, in Lisbon, respectively.
The two events took place simultaneously and were both organised by Técnico. Over three days, Lisbon became a hub of innovation for a group of European students and professors. Ricard Marxer, Professor at the University of Toulon (France) and Director of EMJMD MIR, shared his enthusiasm. “Overall, it was a fantastic meeting where we discussed how to continue to make this programme a rewarding experience for everyone”, he said.
At the Robotics Championship, the first-year students formed teams and competed, demonstrating their innovative solutions and technical skills. Eduardo Cunha, a researcher at the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa) and a member of the organising committee, highlighted the students’ enthusiasm. “Many had not yet spent a semester in Lisbon and were excited to get to know the city. Everyone was very interested in the talks and happy with the weather and the food,” he said.
At the Symposium, attendees had the opportunity to hear from three renowned researchers in the field of robotics: Ahmed Chemori from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS, France), Massimo Caccia from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche/Istituto di Ingegneria del Mare (CNR/INM, Italy) and Lionel Lapierre from the University of Montpellier (France). The keynote speaker Vladimir Djapic, CEO of H2O ROBOTICS, also shared his view on the current trends and future directions of industry. The event also included two poster sessions showcasing student research projects, and a session where former Master’s students shared their career paths.
Susanna Munari is attending the third year of the master’s programme. She expressed her enthusiasm about the programme and her upcoming move to Norway: “I’ve already done an Erasmus, but it was only for a semester. I wanted to study abroad, so I applied to universities all over Europe because there are no courses on marine robotics in Italy.”
Instituto Superior Técnico is part of the Joint Erasmus Mundus Master’s Programme in Marine and Maritime Intelligent Robotics (MIR) that combines robotics and artificial intelligence to push the boundaries of marine and maritime science and its technological applications. MIR graduates receive a master’s double degree, recognised throughout Europe, giving full access to PhD programmes. The double degrees are based on the accredited master’s programmes from the European institutions where they studied the first and second years.
*This text was written in collaboration with the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa)
