Michael R. Benjamin
Papers
9
Total Citations
72
H-Index
5
About
Michael R. Benjamin is a leading researcher at the intersection of autonomous marine robotics and human-robot teaming. His work centers on developing intelligent, collaborative systems where humans and autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) operate as cohesive teams in real-world maritime environments. Benjamin's major contributions include the creation of the Aquaticus testbed, a unique platform that uses a capture-the-flag competition to study human-robot trust, cognitive load, and robot intelligence levels in dynamic settings. His highly cited 2018 paper on these interactions (23 citations) provides foundational insights into how humans perceive and trust autonomous teammates under pressure. He has also advanced practical safety and compliance for ASVs, developing real-time evaluation algorithms for COLREGS (collision regulations) and pioneering the use of deep reinforcement learning to learn autonomous marine behaviors. More recently, his 2024 model for multi-agent autonomy combines opinion dynamics with multi-objective behavior optimization, offering a novel architecture for complex multi-robot systems. Through publicly available datasets from Aquaticus and his leadership in competitions like the AUVSI RobotX, Benjamin provides invaluable resources for the community, making him a pivotal figure in bringing trustworthy, safe, and effective marine autonomy to life.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2A Human-Robot Speech Interface for an Autonomous Marine Teammate12 citations · 2016
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- 5
- 6Exploring Human-Robot Trust During Teaming in a Real-World Testbed5 citations · 2019
- 7An Overview of MIT-Olin’s Approach in the AUVSI RobotX Competition4 citations · 2016
- 8Learning Autonomous Marine Behaviors in MOOS-IvP3 citations · 2018
- 9