Victor Polidoro

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Victor Polidoro is a pioneering roboticist whose work has fundamentally advanced autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology for critical infrastructure inspection. His primary research areas center on marine robotics, hull-relative navigation, and hover-capable AUV design. Polidoro’s most impactful contribution is the development of the Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV) at MIT and Bluefin Robotics, a revolutionary platform designed for ship hull inspection. His seminal 2005 paper, cited over 50 times, introduced a novel hull-relative navigation and control system that uses a Doppler Velocity Log kept normal to the hull, enabling precise, autonomous inspection in challenging underwater environments. This work directly addressed anti-terrorism and force protection needs. Polidoro further advanced the field with his 2006 paper proposing a new paradigm for ship hull inspection using a holonomic, hover-capable robot, bringing ROV-like inspection capabilities to autonomous platforms. By enabling safe, efficient, and detailed hull surveys without divers, Polidoro’s innovations have set a new standard for maritime security and underwater robotics, making him a key figure in the transition from remotely operated to fully autonomous inspection systems.