#36: SandHound: Applying robotics to advance critical coastline survey capabilities

For several sweltering weeks along the North Carolina coastline, an ERDC teampushed a quadruped robot with a suite of advanced sensors to its limit to test its abilityto conduct critical beach landscape surveys. The research – known as the SandHound Project – is working to validate whether thequadruped can operate at all levels of the coastal landscape and collect critical data thatone day can support emergency response and military landing operations. We visit with Jacob Stasiewicz, a master’s student at the University of Delaware whohas worked with ERDC for the past two years, to discuss the technology, its capabilitiesand its future impact on advancing coastal engineering and sciences. Topics discussed include the genesis behind the SandHound Project and early lessonslearned (5:22); the experience of testing this robot platform on a busy, public beach(7:18); and the future of this type of system for use across the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers and emergency management operations (10:14). We also discussed thetypes of sensors that were deployed during testing and their capabilities (12:07), thecapabilities and the expertise of ERDC’s Field Research Facility where the testing wasconducted (15:54), and the future of robotic platforms in further supporting andadvancing costal engineering and sciences (22:11). Watch a video of this podcast on our website at PowerofERDCpodcast.org/36-sandhound_video. For additional resources about the SandHound Project, visitPowerofERDCpodcast.org/36-sandhound_resources.