- Associate Professor and Graduate Director
- Ocean Engineering
- Phone: 401.874.6028
- Email: slicht@uri.edu
- Office Location: Sheets Building, Rm 211
Narragansett Bay Campus - Website
- Google Scholar
- ResearchGate
- Accepting Students: Yes
Biography
Dr. Licht is the director of the Robotics Laboratory for Complex Underwater Environments (R-CUE) at the University of Rhode Island. Our goal is to develop maritime robots with the ability to operate in dynamic and unpredictable environments. To this end, we investigate biologically inspired propulsion as a means of providing high authority/high bandwidth thrust; distributed pressure sensing for detection of flow structures and obstacles; model based optimal control and trajectory generation strategies for maneuvering in dynamic conditions; and compliant underwater manipulation and intervention technologies.
Dr. Licht received his Ph.D. in Oceanographic and Mechanical Engineering in 2008 from the MIT/WHOI Joint program, where he created ‘Finnegan the RoboTurtle’. Prior to joining the URI faculty, he was a Senior Research Scientist with the Maritime Research group at iRobot, and Senior Robotics Engineer with Vecna Robotics. During his time in the robotics industry, Dr. Licht designed, simulated, and field tested model-based control systems for underwater vehicles and ground robots driven by bladders, fins, flippers, propellers, legs, wheels, and tracks.
Research
- Marine Robotics
- Biologically Inspired Propulsion
- Nonlinear Attitude Control
- Compliant Underwater Manipulation
- Underwater Vehicles
- Unmanned Aerial Monitoring of Coastal Structures
Education
- Ph.D., Oceanographic and Mechanical Engineering, MIT-WHOI Joint Program, 2008
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, 1998
Selected Publications
| Capalbo CE, Tomaino D, Bruno F, Rizzo D, Phillips B, Licht S. A Soft Robot Gripper With Neutrally Buoyant Jamming Pads for Gentle Yet Secure Grasping of Underwater Objects. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2022. doi: 10.1109/JOE.2022.3156746 |
| Ellenrieder KDV, Licht SC, Belotti R, Henninger HC. Shared Human-Robot path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle. Mechatronics, 2022; 83, 102750. doi: 10.1016/j.mechatronics.2022.102750 |
| Phillips BT, Allder J, Bolan G, et al. Additive Manufacturing Aboard a Moving Vessel at Sea Using Passively Stabilized Stereolithography (SLA) 3D Printing. Additive Manufacturing, 2020; 31, 100969. doi: 10.1016/j.addma.2019.100969 |
| Phillips BT, Licht S, Haiat KS, et al. DEEPi: A Miniaturized, Robust, and Economical Camera and Computer System for Deep-Sea Exploration. Deep-Sea Research Part I, 2019; 153, 103136. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr.2019.103136 |
| Roman C, Ullman D, Licht S, et al. The Wire Flyer Towed Profiling System. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2019. doi: 10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0180.1 |
| Yuan C, Licht S, He H. Formation Learning Control of Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Heterogeneous Nonlinear Uncertain Dynamics. IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 2018; 48(10):2920-2934. doi: 10.1109/TCYB.2017.2752458 |
| Snyder W, Roman C, Licht S. Hybrid Actuation with Complementary Allocation for Depth Control of a Lagrangian Sea-Floor Imaging Platform. Journal of Field Robotics, 2018; 135(3), 330-344. doi: 10.1002/rob.21716 |
Recent Grants
| 6/14/2023. Co-PI. Dartmouth College. “RII Track-2 FEC: Computational Methods and Autonomous Robotics Systems for Modeling and predicting Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms.” |
| 3/8/2023. PI. Office of Naval Research. “Quantitative soft gripper design tools to advance unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) autonomous intervention.” |
| 1/4/2023. PI. Office of Naval Research “Quantitative soft gripper design tools to advance unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) autonomous intervention.” |
| 9/23/2022. Co-PI. University of Maine. “Vision-Based Detection of Bridge Damage Captured by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” |
| 9/23/2022. Co-PI. University of Maine. “Vision-Based Detection of Bridge Damage Captured by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” |
| 9/1/2022. Co-PI. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. “OECI NRDA - Coral Technology YR4_YR5.” |
| 9/1/2022. Co-PI. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. “OECI NRDA - Coral Technology YR4_YR5.” |
| 3/25/2021. PI. Office of Naval Research. “Neptune: Advances in Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Autonomous Intervention.” |
| 2/24/2021. Co-PI. University of Connecticut, US Office of Naval Research. “NIUVT 2020 COMP 25: Integrated analysis, design and operation evaluation of UUV Swarms.” |
| 3/20/2020. Co-PI. University of Connecticut, US Office of Naval Research. “NIUVT: Comp 12: Lower Power, Lightweight autonomous Intervention tools for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles.” |
| 3/9/2020. Co-PI. University of Connecticut, US Office of Naval Research. “NIUVT: Comp 16: Agile & Resilient UUV Mission Planning Under Navigation Uncertainty, Time Pressure and Communication Constraints.” |
| 2/13/2019. PI. Electro Standards Laboratory. “UUV Battery Management for Energy Efficient Depth Control and Station Keeping.” |
| 8/2/2018. PI. US Department of Commerce NOAA. “Advances in Deep Sea Sampling with Soft Robotics.” |
| 10/12/2017. PI. Naval Undersea Warfare Center. “NEEC: Modeling and Control of Agile Biologically Inspired Unmanned Underwater Vehicles.” |
| 6/6/2017. PI. RI Department of Transportation. “Airborne Thermal Imaging of Bridge Deck Structures.” |
| 1/12/2017. Co-PI. National Science Foundation. “RAPID: Lidar and Sonar Surveys of a Dune Reinforced with Geosynthetic Sand Containers Impacted by Tropical Storm Hermine.” |
Patents
- Hudson ET, Licht SC, Eickstedt DP, Inventors; Kongsberg Underwater Technology Inc, Assignee. Unmanned Underwater Vehicle. US Patent 20120289103. November 15, 2012