FAIR data and Marine Robotics

A solid understanding of the ocean functioning is now more important than ever. With the advent of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the boost of marine technology, now we have access to groundbreaking observations. Novel robotics can shed light on unexplored marine areas and unlock the observation of pristine environments leaving no trace behind. Pioneering ocean robots are filling the observational gap in marine sciences by collecting a growing amount of original data. These innovative, non-standard robotic platforms, including autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and surface vehicles (ASVs), are developed to overcome environmental constraints or meet specific requirements, such as working in critical polar environments, transitional waters, and areas characterized by very shallow water conditions, where conventional data collection techniques are often ineffective or non-usable. With the increasing expansion of marine robotics applications and the growing number of research groups collecting vast amounts of data, the implementation of FAIR principles becomes of fundamental importance, especially for datasets encompassing both environmental and robotic data and metadata. Implementing FAIR principles in managing these data will facilitate greater accessibility and sharing among experts, enhancing cooperation and collaboration in the field of marine robotics, contributing to mission safety improvement, ensuring greater accuracy and reliability of data and results, which constitute a crucial contribution to global marine research and conservation efforts. The marine robotics group at CNR INM in Genoa has decades of experience in developing highly modular and reconfigurable autonomous robotic platforms that enable access and monitoring in critical environments and in their use during experimental data acquisition campaigns. Moreover, the increasing use of robotic platforms as technological enablers for innovative services addressed to diverse stakeholders, including research groups as well as SMEs, authorities and administrations, and the public community and citizens, is leading to the recording of big volumes of data. To harness their potential effectively, a change of perspective is underway within the CNR INM robotics group, emphasizing the centrality of the data and their management through the application of FAIR principles. This contribution will outline the efforts of the CNR INM group in developing and implementing a framework for the acquisition and management of environmental and robotic datasets, enabling the generation of integrated "FAIR by default" data. The purpose of this work, which recognizes the centrality of data through the implementation of the FAIR principles, is to facilitate the storage and long-term preservation, sharing, and reuse of these datasets. This will elevate both their scientific value and the potential to formulate more sustainable management strategies for the marine environment, fundamental for the health of the planet and of the well being of the people.