# Reconfigurable Robots for Scaling Reef Restoration

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.04612 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04612/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 10 May 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Image Labels Are All You Need for Coarse Seagrass Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00973/) (2023)
- [AI-Driven Marine Robotics: Emerging Trends in Underwater Perception and Ecosystem Monitoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01878/) (2025)
- [Human-in-the-Loop Segmentation of Multi-species Coral Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.09406/) (2024)
- [Automated Coral Spawn Monitoring for Reef Restoration: The Coral Spawn and Larvae Imaging Camera System (CSLICS)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.17299/) (2025)
- [Image-Space Refraction Correction for Underwater 3D Reconstruction: Warping Flat-Port Views into Pinhole Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.07788/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Coral reefs are under increasing threat from the impacts of climate change. Whilst current restoration approaches are effective, they require significant human involvement and equipment, and have limited deployment scale. Harvesting wild coral spawn from mass spawning events, rearing them to the larval stage and releasing the larvae onto degraded reefs is an emerging solution for reef restoration known as coral reseeding. This paper presents a reconfigurable autonomous surface vehicle system that can eliminate risky diving, cover greater areas with coral larvae, has a sensory suite for additional data measurement, and requires minimal non-technical expert training. A key feature is an on-board real-time benthic substrate classification model that predicts when to release larvae to increase settlement rate and ultimately, survivability. The presented robot design is reconfigurable, light weight, scalable, and easy to transport. Results from restoration deployments at Lizard Island demonstrate improved coral larvae release onto appropriate coral substrate, while also achieving 21.8 times more area coverage compared to manual methods.