Bilal Wehbe

About

Bilal Wehbe is a robotics researcher whose work bridges artificial intelligence, underwater robotics, and autonomous systems. Based at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), he has established himself as a leading voice in applying machine learning to the unique challenges of underwater environments, including perception, navigation, and manipulation. Wehbe's most influential contribution is his comprehensive 2022 review of AI for underwater robot navigation and control, which has garnered 63 citations and serves as a key reference for the field. His work on self-supervised learning for sonar image classification (26 citations) addresses a critical bottleneck in underwater robotics: the scarcity of labeled training data. He was also instrumental in developing AUVx, a miniaturized autonomous underwater vehicle created under the DAEDALUS project, demonstrating his strength in translating research into hardware. Beyond underwater systems, Wehbe has contributed to space robotics through the InFuse data fusion framework, a modular sensor fusion system for autonomous planetary and orbital robots. His involvement in ROBOCADEMY, a European Marie Curie training network, further reflects his commitment to advancing the broader underwater robotics community through education and international collaboration.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Recent Advances in AI for Navigation and Control of Underwater Robots

   63 citations · 2022
2. 2
   Self-supervised Learning for Sonar Image Classification

   26 citations · 2022
3. 3
   AUV^x — A novel miniaturized autonomous underwater vehicle

   16 citations · 2017
4. 4
   SAVOR: Sonar-Aided Visual Odometry and Reconstruction for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles^*

   3 citations · 2024
5. 5
   InFuse Data Fusion Methodology for Space Robotics, Awareness and Machine Learning

   3 citations · 2018
6. 6
   The Marine Debris Forward-Looking Sonar Datasets

   2 citations · 2025
7. 7
   Machine Learning and Dynamic Whole Body Control for Underwater Manipulation

   2 citations · 2019
8. 8
   ROBOCADEMY — A European Initial Training Network for underwater robotics

   2 citations · 2016
9. 9
   InFuse : a comprehensive framework for data fusion in space robotics

   2 citations · 2017
10. 10
    A Common Data Fusion Framework For Space Robotics: Architecture And Data Fusion Methods

    2 citations · 2018

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links