\u201cThe pace of reef degradation is accelerating due to climate change and local stressors, and traditional methods alone are not keeping up,\u201d said Shelby Thomas, CEO and founder of ORAI. \u201cIf we don\u2019t integrate advanced technologies now, we risk falling further behind.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A team led by Md Jahidul Islam, who directs the RoboPI lab, is building underwater coral robots that use cameras and sonar technologies to navigate through the waters around reefs. This allows them to explore and map reef areas even when the water is murky or hard to see through.<\/p>\n
![\"Shelby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/underwater-robot-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Shelby Thomas using a photogrammetry device to collect monitoring data for ORAI and city of Hollywood\u2019s artificial reefs benthic growth and recruitment project. The research and robots are in partnership with the University of Florida. (Photo credit: Ricardo Nascimento)<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderwater robots enable us to see, understand and protect parts of the ocean that are beyond human reach \u2013 at a scale the future demands,\u201d Islam said.<\/p>\n
These robots are being used at active restoration sites. They can operate on their own, collecting detailed information on reef structures across large areas without requiring constant human oversight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is not to remove humans, but to extend their reach. Robotics allows us to collect better data, more safely and at larger scales, while keeping humans in the loop for interpretation and decision-making,\u201d Islam said, \u201cIn many cases, it enables work that would otherwise be too dangerous or simply impossible to perform.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because ocean conditions can make it difficult to use equipment, the robots reduce the need for divers to manually track changes in the reefs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith high-resolution, repeatable data, we have the capabilities to see micro-patterns in coral recruitment, structural complexity and habitat use that would have been easy to miss before,\u201d Thomas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems<\/a>, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Reefs play a crucial role in protecting coastlines from storms, while also generating jobs and tourism that support local communities. They provide food and attract activities like fishing, diving and snorkeling, which generate hundreds of millions of dollars for local economies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using underwater robots may bring about more in-depth observation of the reefs, expanding current research.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith our autonomous systems, we can survey large areas quickly. This allows scientists to prioritize the response efforts, allocate resources more effectively and monitor recovery with a much higher temporal resolution,\u201d Islam said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Given the important role that reefs play, experts are concentrating on finding solutions to help corals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese tools allow us to scale restoration, improve precision and respond faster to stress events like bleaching,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThe sooner we adopt them, the better chance we have to protect and rebuild these ecosystems before reaching irreversible tipping points.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sol Moyano is a senior majoring in multimedia journalism at FAU who is reporting for The Invading Sea in the spring 2026 semester.\u00a0Banner photo: Another image of Shelby Thomas with the photogrammetry device used to collect monitoring data (Photo credit: Ricardo Nascimento).<\/p>\n Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here<\/a>. To support The Invading Sea, click here<\/a> to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe<\/a>. To learn more about coral bleaching, watch the short video below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sol Moyano, The Invading Sea\u00a0 As climate change threatens corals, researchers are developing autonomous robots to monitor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23983,18237,28,30,29,23984,100575,100576,100577,2512],"class_list":{"0":"post-222002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-coral-restoration","9":"tag-corals","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-floridas-coral-reef","14":"tag-ocean-rescue-alliance-international","15":"tag-robopi-laboratory","16":"tag-underwater-robots","17":"tag-university-of-florida"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}