Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Margarida Faria is a leading researcher in marine robotics and autonomous systems, specializing in the coordination of unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles (UAVs and AUVs) for oceanographic field experiments. Her work addresses the critical challenge of obtaining synoptic observations of dynamic ocean phenomena—such as fronts, eddies, oxygen minimum zones, and algal blooms—which are difficult to study due to their large spatial scales. Faria’s most cited paper (49 citations) documents the challenges and lessons learned from coordinating UAVs and AUVs in real-world oceanographic missions, providing foundational insights for multi-vehicle autonomy in marine science. She has also advanced autonomous inspection of large 3D structures using frontier cell-based exploration and Lazy Theta* path planning (38 citations), and integrated satellite tracking to monitor fine-scale behavior of ocean sunfish (Mola mola) in near-real time (31 citations). Her interdisciplinary approach bridges robotics, oceanography, and ecology, enabling cost-effective, high-resolution data collection that was previously impossible with traditional ship-based methods. Faria’s contributions are instrumental in pushing the boundaries of autonomous environmental monitoring and have significant implications for climate research, conservation, and offshore infrastructure inspection.