Max Woolsey

University of Southern Mississippi, Santa Clara University

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Max Woolsey is a leading researcher in marine robotics, specializing in the design and coordination of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles for environmental monitoring. His key research areas include multi-robot systems, adaptive navigation, and field robotics for aquatic ecosystems. Woolsey’s major contribution is the development of the diving autonomous surface vehicle (DASV), an economical platform that combines surface maneuvering with intermittent diving capabilities to collect vertical water column profiles—a novel approach that bridges the gap between traditional surface vessels and underwater gliders. His most cited work, "A Diving Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Multi-Robot Research and Development" (2019, 10 citations), introduces this platform and its potential for scalable, multi-robot environmental sensing. In "Gradient-based Adaptive Navigation of Multiple Diving Autonomous Surface Vehicles" (2022, 3 citations), he pioneered a gradient-based extremum-seeking method that enables sparse-measurement navigation, allowing fleets of DASVs to efficiently locate phenomena like algal blooms or thermal gradients. Woolsey’s work is notable for its practical, field-ready designs that lower barriers to multi-robot research, with significant implications for oceanography, climate monitoring, and disaster response.