POI FEB RAS at the strategic session “Marine Robotics”

09.09.2026

From August 26 to 28, 2026, a large‑scale strategic session on cooperation between science and business, “Marine Robotics,” was held in Murmansk. The event, organized by the Rostec State Corporation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia, brought together key developers, scientists, and representatives of the real sector of the economy to foster the country’s technological sovereignty.

Alexander Nikolaevich Charkin, Acting Director of the Pacific Oceanological Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, actively participated in the business program of the session. The head of the institute spoke at the key sessions “Cross‑Cutting Technologies in Marine Robotics” and “Russian Developments and Solutions in the Field of Marine Robotic Systems.”

The participants of the meetings paid particular attention to three critically important areas: 

  • Navigation: the creation of high‑precision positioning systems for autonomous vessels and underwater vehicles. 

  • Communication: ensuring reliable and secure data transmission in aquatic environments and polar latitudes. 

  • Artificial intelligence: the integration of AI algorithms for autonomous decision‑making and object recognition by marine robotic systems.

A.N. Charkin presented the institute's advanced development, the automated towed underwater vehicle Smart Fish. This unique robotic complex, that was developed at the Laboratory of Advanced Marine Research Methods of the POI FEB RAS, is designed for operational hydrological and sonar surveys. The device has already successfully proven itself in polar expeditions when studying the ecosystems of the Arctic and mapping the bottom of the Far Eastern bays.

The key outcome of the session was the decision to create a unified list of priority technological areas in the field of marine robotics for targeted funding through the targeted programs of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.