IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2012 - 23

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generate gas distribution maps and
predict source localization. The
authors demonstrate their techniques
using a micro unmanned aerial
vehicle in laboratory and outdoor
experiments.
The ability of robotic systems to
measure large-scale environmental
processes is demonstrated in "Autonomous Inland Water Monitoring" by Hitz et al. In this article,
the authors discuss the development
and application of a novel autonomous surface vehicle for monitoring
lakes. Using the system, the authors
have been able to test the validity of
prior environmental modeling assumptions of homogeneity of an
aquatic process. They demonstrate
the ability of a single robotic vehicle
to capture the spatial and temporal
dynamics of evolving aquatic processes such as harmful cyanobacterial blooms that can pose serious
public health issues.
The next article, "Monitoring of
Benthic Reference Sites" by Williams
et al., investigates a critical aspect of
marine science in detecting and quantifying changes in the environment over
long timescales. This article describes
the establishment of an Australia-wide
benthic observation system utilizing
autonomous underwater vehicles to
provide time series imagery of the
seafloor. Furthermore, it provides an
overview of their research toward
generating automated tools to allow
the processing of large volumes of
high-resolution stereo imagery and
multibeam sonar for three-dimensional seafloor reconstruction and
image-based habitat classification.
Through an extensive experimental
campaign, the authors demonstrate
the essential ability to revisit sites
over year-long timescales to accurately map and quantify the changes
of the seafloor.
Despite the incredible advancements of both research and commercially available robotic systems,
regulators and authorities still impose
significant restrictions on scientists in
utilizing these systems for environmental monitoring, particularly near

populated areas. The final article,
"Sampling Severe Local Storms and
Related Phenomena" by Frew et al.,
discusses specific regulatory, logistical, and technical challenges in deploying unmanned aircraft systems
(UASs) for sampling severe local
storms. Using their Tempest UAS as a
case study, the authors discuss the
approaches for addressing these challenges and present experimental
results from their supercell thunderstorm penetration trials.
We hope the articles presented
in this special issue on robotics for
environmental monitoring illus
trate the diversity of research, applications, and opportunities within not
only robotics sciences but also natural
sciences. We certainly enjoyed reading the articles and interacting with

the authors dur- *
The obvious benefit
ing the editorial
process.
of field robotic
Finally, we exsystems is to remove
press our gratitude to all the
scientists from
contributing auimmediate danger.
thors for this
special issue. We *
especially thank
the individuals who served as
reviewers of these articles. We also
thank the editor-in-chief, Peter Corke,
for the assistance provided during the
editorial process of this special issue.
Matthew Dunbabin. E-mail: matthew.
dunbabin@csiro.au.
Lino Marques. E-mail: lino@isr.uc.pt.

MARCH 2012

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2012