Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Aref Maalej is a robotics researcher whose work spans two compelling domains: underwater marine robotics and bipedal locomotion systems. Based at the Tunisian Naval Academy, he has made significant contributions to the design and control of robotic systems for practical maritime applications, most notably in the area of autonomous underwater hull maintenance. Maalej's most influential work, "Innovative Design of an Underwater Cleaning Robot with a Two Arm Manipulator for Hull Cleaning" (2019), has garnered 73 citations, reflecting the strong interest his solutions have generated within the marine robotics community. His research addresses a longstanding industrial challenge — the cleaning and inspection of ship hulls — by developing sophisticated robotic stations equipped with multi-degree-of-freedom arm manipulators, complete with geometric and dynamic modeling frameworks. This line of work carries meaningful economic and environmental implications, offering alternatives to costly and polluting manual cleaning methods. Earlier in his career, Maalej investigated bipedal robot stability, developing novel approaches that leverage trunk and arm synergies to counteract three-dimensional external disturbances during walking and object handling. Though these papers have accumulated fewer citations, they demonstrate the breadth of his expertise in dynamic modeling and robotic balance control, establishing a strong technical foundation that underpins his later marine robotics achievements.