Dr. Gerard Dooly:

Within our research, we cover underwater robotics, which is inspection of underwater habitats, energy infrastructure, surface robotics and heterogeneous robotics, where there is a combination of surface robotics for long-range surface vessels with aerial drones as well combined. Looking at what we have in the context of Ireland Inc., we have the Marine Institute, which covers the marine aspects. In the US, there are multiple organisations looking at the technology development. The Marine Institute would primarily look at some technology elements but it would also be primarily focused on science. Within Ireland, we lack technology development for robotics, which would be a hub. We engage with all of the various sectors within Ireland, including defence, the Coast Guard and all of the various blue light services and even the DAA in Dublin in terms of management of airspace there. There is a benefit to offering a national hub for that. There are national hubs for marine in the US such as NOAA and WHOI. There are multiple comparable research centres of excellence in other countries in the technology space.