ENVIROBOTICS
SVAN Project Environmental Robotics About

Flagship Project

The SVAN Project explored environmental monitoring using remotely operated land, air, and underwater robots, supported by a van-based operations platform for the robot team and field laboratory. Environmental experts could control the robot team from anywhere in the world through a telepresence interface.

SVAN

SVAN is an environmental robotics research project initiated and developed by Anna Adamczyk and Alexander Moortgat-Pick at the Technical University of Munich, exploring telepresence, distributed robotic systems, and environmental monitoring in real-world settings.

SVAN — Van and robot team

Environmental experts cannot be everywhere at once. SVAN extends their presence in the field from anywhere in the world. From one environmental site to another, they can respond wherever their expertise is needed.

— Alexander Moortgat-Pick, SVAN Project Lead

[ The Problem ]

Ecosystems in need of monitoring

Environmental monitoring often faces a basic trade-off. Some methods cover large areas but only give rough insights. Others provide detailed observations but require a lot of time and expert effort.

Field researchers and conservationists are already doing critical work. But their tools have not kept up. Human divers can only go so deep, for so long, in so many places. Boats are costly to deploy. Fixed sensors capture only a small part of what is happening.

SVAN was built to change that equation by giving experts tools that match the scale of the problem: multiplying their reach through environmental robotic avatars. One expert. Many places.

Water sampling in a shallow stream by a scientist

Continuous data

Annual expeditions capture only brief snapshots and often miss rapid environmental change.

A diver counts plant diversity on the bottom of a lake.

Remote access

Many critical ecosystems are inaccessible, hazardous, or too costly to reach regularly.

Environmental experts are manually using devices from a small boat.

Manual Fieldwork

Many environmental measurements require tedious and time-intensive fieldwork.

A biologist is counting frequency of species to assess biodiversity in a field.

Expert access

Environmental monitoring often requires experts to be physically present at the site.

[ Why SVAN the Van ]

Robots need a base. SVAN brings it to them.

SVAN is built around a van-based mobile robot hub: a self-contained field operations base for robots that deploys wherever it's needed. It provides the infrastructure needed for robots to operate in nature as well as for environmental experts to connect to the robots globally, and serves as a mobile field lab for the technician travelling with SVAN.

Conceptual diagram showing how SVAN can extend the operational range of environmental robotics missions.

The Base ...

Field robots are already capable of performing environmental tasks: collecting water samples, mapping coastlines, inspecting underwater structures. But they need power, communication, and a connection back to the people operating them. In practice, that means a base. And that base is usually static: a building, a station. Which means the further the mission site, the less practical the whole operation becomes. And environmental missions, by definition, happen where infrastructure ends — and that is a good thing.

That gap between where robots can be useful and where they can actually operate has been the limiting factor. SVAN closes it.

... for the Robot Team

With a technician on site, a coordinated team of land, air, and underwater robots can be launched from the hub. The entire system is designed for telepresence: environmental experts anywhere in the world can connect, observe, and control the robot team live, seeing what the robots see, doing what the robots do, to assess, monitor, and protect the environment around them, without being on-site.

Land

Ground robots for terrestrial monitoring and navigation in coastal and riparian zones.

Air

Aerial drones for overview, mapping, and rapid deployment across large areas.

Water

Underwater and surface vehicles for aquatic monitoring, sampling, and inspection.

SVAN hub during an environmental robotics mission together with its robot team in air, water and on ground.
[ SVAN Field Research ]

Environmental (Tele-)Robotics

Field deployments and environmental monitoring research carried out during the SVAN project. The photographs document SVAN as a mobile field laboratory during field experiments, with the robot team conducting telerobotic environmental monitoring.

Ground robot in a forest area picking up litter with a robotic arm.
SVAN hub during a mission located near a lakeside.
Environmental diving robot with a collected water sample.
Screen showing mission view from inside SVAN hub.
A dish containing aquatic organisms prepared for counting with a robot.
A device for obtaining a water sample mounted onto an underwater robot.
[ In Practice ]

A laptop in the US. A lake in Germany.

Follow one of our real missions: during experiments and field tests with SVAN at a Germany Lake a scientist joined remotely from San Francisco to collect and analyze a water sample without ever setting foot in Germany.

A scientist in USA controls two robots, in air and water, remotely over the Internet to conduct an environmental robotics lakewater analysis mission in a lake in Bavaria, Germany.

A scientist in the United States opens a browser, logs in, and takes control of a drone hovering over a lake in Germany. He flies it over the water to find the right spot. Then switches to the underwater robot, navigates it down, and collects a water sample.

Minutes later, the technician places the sample under the microscope in SVAN's onboard field lab. Still from his laptop, the scientist takes control of the robotic arm, adjusts the focus, and analyzes the sample for harmful algae.

Our flagship project SVAN shows, that despite current technical challenges telerobotic environmental monitoring with robots specialized to their domain, air, land, water, and their environmental task is possible now.

01

Drone overview

Scientist logs in remotely, takes control of the drone and flies over the lake to select the sampling site.

02

ROV deployed

Technician deploys the underwater robot. Scientist navigates it to the selected spot, guided by live drone footage.

03

Sample collected

Scientist operates the sampling equipment remotely. Water sample collected underwater, retrieved by the technician.

04

Live microscopy

Scientist logs back in, now controlling a robotic arm operating a microscope. Sample analyzed live for harmful algae.

05

Assessment complete

Water safety confirmed remotely, in real time. No travel. No delay.

[ Press ]

SVAN in the world

Video Series

SVAN × Hyundai

Innovation for Nature — 3-part series

Episode 01

From STARIA to SVan

How a production van became a mobile robot hub for environmental fieldwork.

Watch
Thumbnail of Hyundai covering the SVAN project, episode two.
Episode 02

Applying the SVan Toolbox

Thumbnail of Hyundai covering the SVAN project, episode three.
Episode 03

Foreshadowing of the Future

In collaboration with

Hyundai Motors Europe

The full story of the SVAN × Hyundai collaboration, from concept to field deployment, is documented on Hyundai's sustainability platform.

Read the full story
Also featured in
Welt der Wunder - World in Motion [DE]

James Bond-Modell im Auftrag für die Umwelt

SVAN featured on German television. A look at the project through the lens of environmental innovation and robotic fieldwork.

Watch on YouTube
Press

Coverage

Heise Online [DE]

Münchner Wissenschaftler überwachen und reinigen Umwelt mit Robotern und Drohne

Germany's leading technology publication covers SVAN's approach to environmental monitoring.

Tages-Anzeiger [DE]

Mit Robotern gegen Umweltverschmutzung

Switzerland's largest daily newspaper on SVAN and the fight against environmental pollution.

Stern [DE]

Im Auftrag der Umwelt

One of Germany's most-read news magazines on the Hyundai × TUM partnership behind SVAN.

Die Welt [DE]

Mobiler Robotikhub im Kampf gegen Umweltverschmutzung

National daily on SVAN's mobile robot hub concept and its environmental mission.

Next Mobility [DE]

Mobiler Robotikhub: Umweltbewusste KIs

Mobility industry press on SVAN's robotic field deployment and robot-team coordination.

La Repubblica [IT]

Hyundai svela i primi robot anti-inquinamento — ecco come funzionano

Italy's largest newspaper on SVAN's anti-pollution robot system and how it works.

[ Publications ]

Research publications

Selected papers and video publications across telemanipulation, autonomous mission cycling, mobile field robotics, and environmental robotics.

Autonomous UAV Mission Cycling publication preview
research paper
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024

Autonomous UAV Mission Cycling: A Mobile Hub Approach for Precise Landings and Continuous Operations in Challenging Environments

Read paper Official source
Robot Guardians video preview
video publication
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024, Video Session

Robot Guardians: The Artificial Immune System of our Planet

Watch video Official source
SVAN publication preview
workshop paper
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024, Workshop on Field Robotics

SVAN: A Mobile Hub as a Field Robotics Development and Deployment Platform

Read paper Official source
A-RIFT publication preview
research paper
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

A-RIFT: Visual Substitution of Force Feedback for a Zero-Cost Interface in Telemanipulation

Read paper Official source
[ With Thanks ]

Acknowledgements

SVAN was made possible by the support of those who saw its potential and backed the project at key moments along the way.

Research Funding

Dobeneck Technology Foundation

The Dobeneck Technologie Stiftung believed in SVAN at its earliest stage, when it existed only as a proposal. Their early funding made it possible to move the project from concept to reality and laid the foundation for our work in environmental robotics. Without their support, SVAN would never have left the page.

Sponsor

Hyundai Motors Europe

It began with a cold email and a hunch: that Hyundai’s work with Healthy Seas to recover ghost nets from the ocean was a natural match for SVAN. They believed in the idea, sponsored the van that became SVAN’s mobile hub, and supported us as we introduced the project to the world.

Institutional Support

Technical University of Munich

We thank TUM for financial support, laboratory facilities, and hardware, as well as the MIRMI leadership for their organizational support. We are especially grateful to our colleagues who supported the project in the lab, in the field, and during demonstrations.

Field Documentation

Get Flashed Media

Get Flashed Media documented SVAN’s missions in the field, often under demanding and unpredictable conditions. Their team captured the moments where robotics meets real environments, and their patience during experiments ensured that the process behind the work was recorded as well as the results. We are grateful for their professionalism and for allowing us to use the footage for research and communication.

Environmental Inspiration

Healthy Seas

Healthy Seas inspired important parts of the SVAN vision through their work recovering ghost nets from the ocean. Their efforts highlight the scale and difficulty of environmental intervention in the real world. Insights into the challenges faced by divers and field teams helped shape our thinking about how robotics can support environmental missions safely and effectively.

Vehicle Conversion

Bott

Bott transformed the Hyundai Staria from a passenger vehicle into the mobile robotic platform that became SVAN. Their team implemented the technical conversion with great precision, ensuring the vehicle could support research equipment, field operations, and specialized hardware, including the mounting system for a tactile robotic arm.

[ Beyond the project ]

A milestone toward environmental robotics

The SVAN project marked an important milestone in turning environmental robotics from an abstract idea into a working system. By combining robotics, sensing, telepresence, and field deployment, SVAN explored how robotic platforms can operate directly within natural environments.

But SVAN is only one step within a broader research direction. Environmental robotics is a young field shaped by the challenges of operating robotic systems in complex, real-world ecosystems. These challenges continue to drive new ideas, systems, and experiments.

The broader field

Environmental Robotics

Environmental robotics explores how robotic systems can monitor, understand, and support natural environments. From sensing and observation to intervention and restoration, the field connects robotics, ecology, and distributed systems into a new domain of environmental research.

Learn about environmental robotics ↗ Environmental robotics research context