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About

Andrew Hogue is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has fundamentally advanced the field of autonomous underwater and amphibious robotics. Best known for his central role in developing AQUA — a groundbreaking hexapod robot capable of walking on land, swimming at the surface, and traversing the ocean floor — Hogue helped redefine what autonomous vehicles could achieve in challenging aquatic environments. His 2007 paper introducing AQUA has accumulated over 240 citations, reflecting the system's remarkable influence, while earlier foundational work on the platform has garnered hundreds of additional citations from the broader robotics community. Beyond locomotion, Hogue made substantial contributions to underwater perception and mapping, developing techniques for 3D simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), stereo-inertial environment reconstruction, and vision-guided navigation — all tailored to the notoriously difficult underwater setting, where variable lighting, dynamic objects, and suspended particulates challenge conventional sensing approaches. His work on coral reef mapping further demonstrates a commitment to real-world ecological applications, bridging autonomous robotics with environmental monitoring. Across his career, Hogue consistently tackled the intersection of hardware design, sensor fusion, and autonomous navigation, producing research that remains essential reading for anyone pursuing underwater or field robotics.