The Heron

The Heron is a small unmanned surface vehicle (USV) made by Clearpath Robotics in Waterloo Canada. MIT has six Herons with plans for addition vehicles in the Spring of 2021. They are the primary teaching platform for MIT 2.680 taught each Spring Term since 2012.

Size:	53.2 x 38.6 x 12.6 in
Weight:	28 kg (62 lbs)
Sensors:	GPS, IMU
Top Speed:	1.9 meters / sec
Battery Life:	1-2 hours depending on misssion/speed
Software:	Front Seat (ROS/Clearpath), Back Seat RasPi MOOS-IvP
Further Info:	https://oceanai.mit.edu/herons
Heron USV Photos:	https://oceanai.mit.edu/media/HeronUSV/album
Current Projects:	https://oceanai.mit.edu/pavlab/proj/seatrain
	https://oceanai.mit.edu/pavlab/proj/iitchs
	https://oceanai.mit.edu/pavlab/proj/swarmbox
Recent Events:	https://oceanai.mit.edu/media/Aug3121-SeaTrain/album
	https://oceanai.mit.edu/media/Oct1821-SeaTrainTests/album

Recent Publications

2024 (1 item)

Tyler Paine, Michael Benjamin, A Model for Multi-Agent Autonomy That Uses Opinion Dynamics and Multi-Objective Behavior Optimization, International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May, 2024. (bibtex)

2023 (3 items)

Tyler Paine, Michael Benjamin, An Ensemble of Online Estimation Methods for One Degree-of-freedom models of Unmanned Surface Vehicles; Applied Theory and Preliminary Field Results with Eight Vehicles, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), October, 2023. (bibtex)
Nikolai Gershfeld, Tyler Paine, Michael Benjamin, Adaptive and Collaborative Bathymetric Channel-Finding Approach for Multiple Autonomous Marine Vehicles, The IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, (8)7, 4028-4035, 2023. (bibtex)
Nicholas Rober, Karan Mahesh, Tyler M. Paine, Max L. Greene, Steven Lee, Sildomar T. Monteiro, Michael R. Benjamin, Jonathan P. How, Online Data-Driven Safety Certification for Systems Subject to Unknown Disturbances, 2023. (bibtex)

2021 (2 items)

Michael Benjamin, Tyler Paine, Supun Randeni, Autonomy Algorithms for Stable Dynamic Linear Convoying of Autonomous Marine Vehicles, OCEANS 2021 MTS/IEEE, October, 2021. (bibtex)
Blake Cole, Michael Benjamin, AIS-Based Collision Avoidance in MOOS-IvP using a Geodetic Unscented Kalman Filter, OCEANS 2021: San Diego - Porto, October, 2021. (bibtex)

2019 (1 item)

Michael Novitzky, Caileigh Fitzgerald, Paul Robinette, Michael R. Benjamin, Henrik Schmidt, Updated: Virtual Reality for Immersive Simulated Experiments of Human-Robot Interactions in the Marine Environment, Proceedings of the Workshop Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality for Human-Robot Interaction ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, ACM/IEEE, Daegu, South Korea, March, 2019. (bibtex)

2018 (2 items)

Michael Novitzky, Paul Robinette, Michael R. Benjamin, Danielle K. Gleason, Caileigh Fitzgerald, Henrik Schmidt, Preliminary Interactions of Human-Robot Trust, Cognitive Load, and Robot Intelligence Levels in a Competitive Game, Companion of the 2018 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, 203--204, 2018. (bibtex)
Paul Robinette, Michael Novitzky, Michael R. Benjamin, Longitudinal Interactions Between Human and Robot Teammates in a Marine Environment, In Workshop on Longitudinal Human-Robot Teaming at {HRI 2018}, Chicago, IL, March, 2018. (bibtex)

2017 (2 items)

Michael Novitzky, Paul Robinette, Danielle K. Gleason, Michael R. Benjamin, A Platform for Studying Human-Machine Teaming on the Water with Physiological Sensors, Workshop on Human-Centered Robotics: Interaction, Physiological Integration and Autonomy at {RSS 2017}, Cambridge, MA, July, 2017. (bibtex)
Paul Robinette, Michael Novitzky, Michael R. Benjamin, Trusting a Robot as a User Versus as a Teammate, Workshop on Morality and Social Trust in Autonomous Robots at {RSS 2017}, Cambridge, MA, July, 2017. (bibtex)

2016 (1 item)

Kyle L. Woerner, Multi-Contact Protocol-Constrained Collision Avoidance for Autonomous Marine Vehicles, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June, 2016. (bibtex)

Current Projects

MIT 2.680 [top]

The Herons are the lab vehicles for MIT 2.680 Marine Autonomy, Sensing and Communications.

https://oceanai.mit.edu/2.680.

DARPA Sea Train [top]

The Herons are test platforms for the MIT team involved in the DARPA TTO Sea Train project. Field tests are comprised of four-vehicle convoying missions with algorithms for mustering and convoying tested with Herons.

https://oceanai.mit.edu/pavlab/seatrain.

Project: IITCHS [top]

In a collaboration with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Herons are used for field testing multi-vehicle mission planning software using the MIT-LL IITCHS planning software and MIT's MOOS-IvP autonomy software.

https://oceanai.mit.edu/pavlab/iitchs.

Page built from LaTeX source using texwiki, developed at MIT. Errata to issues@moos-ivp.org. Get PDF