The ROS Maritime Robotics Working Group has been assembling a comprehensive resource called the Maritime Robotics Landscape. If you haven’t bookmarked it yet, now’s the time: https://ros-maritime.github.io/maritime_robotic_landscape/
As mentioned in the WG meeting announcement, we’ll be walking through the site during the February 24th meeting. Here’s an overview of what’s there:
The landscape covers a lot of ground:
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Vehicle Types — taxonomy of AUVs, ASVs, ROVs, and hybrid platforms
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Autonomy Stacks — from MOOS-IvP to ROS 2-based pipelines like Blue and SMaRC
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Simulation — Gazebo-based environments (VRX, DAVE, LRAUV, Orca4), plus alternatives like Stonefish and OceanSim
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Hardware — DVL selection guides, INS/IMU comparisons, thruster selection, and budget planning
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Drivers — sensor and actuator drivers specific to marine robotics
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Datasets — open access data from REMARO, OpenSonarDatasets, and MIMIR-UW
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Education & Tutorials — getting started guides aimed at newcomers who don’t have access to hardware yet
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Operations — pre-deployment checklists, power budgets, failure modes, and field-tested procedures
The “Expert Reference” section is especially useful for experienced practitioners — it includes package comparisons, integration notes, and vendor selection criteria that are hard to find elsewhere.
One thing that stands out is that the site acknowledges you can start learning marine robotics without any hardware at all. The “Getting Started” guide walks newcomers through driving a virtual robot in simulation, which lowers the barrier to entry considerably.
The landscape is under active development and welcomes contributions via pull requests. If you want to get involved, joining the monthly WG meetings is the best first step.
What sections have you found most useful? What’s missing that you’d like to see added?