John E. San Soucie

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

John E. San Soucie is a pioneering roboticist whose work sits at the intersection of marine biology and artificial intelligence. His primary research focuses on developing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) capable of adaptive, curiosity-driven exploration. San Soucie’s major contribution is the creation of CUREE (Curious Underwater Robot for Ecosystem Exploration), a novel platform that moves beyond static monitoring by employing active learning algorithms to seek out novel or rare ecological phenomena in complex environments like coral reefs. This paradigm shift allows CUREE to autonomously identify and document interactions and variations that traditional diver-held cameras or sensor buoys routinely miss. His most cited paper, detailing the CUREE system (2023), has garnered over 20 citations in a short time, signaling strong interest from both the robotics and conservation communities. By enabling robots to ask their own scientific questions in situ, San Soucie is fundamentally changing how researchers survey and understand fragile underwater ecosystems, offering a powerful new tool for marine conservation and ecological research.