

Since September 2020, Simon Rohou, autonomous robotics professor at ENSTA Bretagne, has been head of the “Marine and underwater robotics” strand of the Robotics Research Group set up by the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
This is a leadership role I have been given, no doubt about it. The aim is to develop discussions between players in the field and to spark collaborative ventures within the French community.
On that note, on November 4 & 5, during the Robotics Research Group’s national days, he presented a summary of the research currently being carried out by the French laboratories in marine and underwater robotics. "Researchers in the field are focusing on a wide range of topics including exploration of underground lakes, developing snake-shaped robots inspired by life, searching for wrecks or collaboration of underwater gliders."
We work closely with other research organizations as well as industrial partners. We are regularly called on for new collaborative ventures as there are still a fair few technological hurdles to overcome. Marine and underwater robotics spans a diverse range of expertise that must adapt to the pressures of the uncertain environments (the sea floor in particular) where our robots operate. That represents a great many challenges in terms of research and innovation.
Since the sea is the testing ground for ENSTA Bretagne researchers and engineers, there are lots of examples of projects led at ENSTA Bretagne which concern underwater observation:
The research activities of ENSTA Bretagne’s Mobile Robotics group are carried out as part of the multi-institution laboratory Lab-STICC, in the new Robex team (which focuses on autonomous robotics for exploration purposes). The team’s scientific output is very high. It is expected to grow even further in 2021 with the arrival of a researcher from the CNRS.
We are delighted to shortly be welcoming Christophe Viel to the team. As you can see, marine and underwater robotics is an appealing and exciting field. We can also see this in our students, more and more of whom are choosing the school’s mobile robotics specialism and their profiles are highly sought-after: they have no trouble finding internships in France and abroad and get several job offers on leaving the school.