Session 1: Soft Robots for the Environment
Title: A marine ecologist’s perspective: opportunities for soft robots in the marine realm?
Abstract: A short sharing of a marine ecologist’s take on soft robotics, and how soft robots can help with work underwater and further marine science research.
Biosketch: Dr Jani Tanzil is a marine ecologist whose research on marine ecosystem dynamics focuses on better understanding the marine environment and coral resilience to climate/environmental disturbances. She hopes her work can better strategies for environmental assessments, policies for resource management and ecosystem recovery. Jani is the Deputy Facility Director at the St. John’s Island National Marine Laboratory and a Senior Research Fellow at the Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS. She leads several projects including a reef restoration project to rejuvenate Singapore’s light-limited reef areas, and the Marine Environment Sensing Network project which aims to expand Singapore’s marine monitoring network for research, education and to facilitate collaborations for our shared environment.
Title: Challenges in unmanned aircraft surveys for assessment of carbon stocks
Abstract: Unmanned aircrafts (UAs) as a platform for sensors are being used increasingly in environmental research and monitoring. They can capture images any time, any place, and can fill space and time gaps of satellite remote sensing data. I will demonstrate how I have used a modified Mavic Pro 2 that can sense the Near Infrared wavelength of light reflected from a vegetated area in Singapore. From this experience, I will highlight the potentials of UAs for my research in sensing biophysical properties of vegetation plus the technical and administrative challenges in using them in Singapore and the region.
Biosketch: Leon is a PhD student based at the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions (CNCS) working on remote sensing of Blue Carbon ecosystems in Southeast Asia. His research interest can be summarised as LEMURS: Land Cover Change; Environmental Conservation; Mangroves; Unmanned Aerial Systems; and Remote Sensing. In his PhD, he aims to investigate how space-, air-, and land-borne remote sensing technologies can accurately detect Blue Carbon stored in mangrove ecosystems.