UNH Research

Welcome home, DriX!

It’s great to see UNH’s very own DriX 8, the ocean-going robot that maps the seafloor autonomously, plying its home waters of Portsmouth Harbor.

DriX 8 recently returned to UNH after four years in the Pacific Ocean. There, it helped find World War II shipwrecks in the Solomon Islands and mapped several important seamounts, all the while testing and developing new technologies to improve our ability to map the world’s oceans.

Drix’s 8,500-mile journey from the Solomon Islands to Durham began on the E/V Nautilus to California, where the UNH team dissembled the 25-foot vessel, packed it in a shipping container, and put it on train. A truck picked it up in Worcester, Mass., and brought it to UNH’s Olson Center. There, scientists and technicians from the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping made repairs and upgrades before launching the vessel from the pier at UNH’s Judd Gregg Marine Research Complex in New Castle, N.H.

Born at the French technology company Exail, DriX 8 has been used and tested by CCOM since 2018 and is continuing to mature with robust collaboration between Exail, UNH and other partners.

Fair winds and following seas, DriX 8!

UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space - UNH EOS UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping / Joint Hydrographic Center

Good news, seafood lovers: UNH will lead a new national effort to grow and strengthen America’s seafood supply through aquaculture research. NOAA selected UNH to oversee the first-of-its-kind NOAA Cooperative Institute Fostering Aquaculture Research and Markets (CIFARM).

With approximately $13.5 million in initial funding, CIFARM will support research and partnerships that will make it safer, more environmentally friendly and cost-effective to produce seafood domestically.

Working with partners across the country — University of Miami, University of Southern Mississippi, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, University of Hawaii, and Sea Grants in Florida, Mississippi-Alabama, California, and Hawaii — researchers will focus on solving real-world challenges that affect both seafood producers and consumers.

“The goal is to expand, build working waterfront capabilities, and grow an educational structure for seafood economic growth and marine resource stewardship on a national scale,” says David Fredriksson, director of UNH’s Center for Sustainable Seafood Systems.

NH Sea Grant UNH Research UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering

We have identified the University of New Hampshire as the host institution for the new NOAA Cooperative Institute Fostering Aquaculture Research and Markets. We will award $13,500,000 to the institute this year to advance U.S. marine aquaculture development. This is the largest single investment in aquaculture that NOAA has ever made.

The University of New Hampshire will be supported by academic, industry, and non-governmental organization partners. Researchers will investigate topics such as engineering and technology development, artificial intelligence for aquaculture, environmental observations and forecasting, marine aquaculture demonstration projects, risk management and vulnerability analysis, and seafood markets research.

https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-strengthens-commitment-to-aquaculture-through-new-cooperative-institute

N.H. Sea Grant is putting $1.2 million toward the issues that matter most to New Hampshire's coast and the people who depend on it.

The work spans a lot of ground: coastal flooding in Portsmouth, blue crabs moving into New Hampshire waters, salt marsh restoration and recovery, better oyster aquaculture, PFAS in Great Bay species, and a new study on Atlantic cod diet and sustainability in the Gulf of Maine.

Teams from UNH, Dartmouth College, and the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve will lead the work. Full details here: https://www.unh.edu/news/2026/05/nh-sea-grant-awards-12m-funding-coastal-marine-research-new-hampshire?utm_campaign=facebook&utm_content=1780681561&utm_medium=20260605&utm_source=fb

UNH Research NH Sea Grant UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture

Robbie the robot looks like a coat rack. Can this UNH-designed innovation help seniors maintain their independence? 🤖

Yes, say Brian and Brenda Marquis.

The Durham couple live with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities; they’re now part of a pilot program led by computer science professor Momotaz Begum and occupational therapy professor Sajay Arthanat. The researchers’ goal: To provide one solution to aging America’s growing home care crisis.

“We’ve been kind of trapped in a problem here in New Hampshire of being able to find and recruit enough home care support,” Brenda Marquis told The Associated Press. “That was when I started looking into robotics and trying to figure out what to do.”

🎥 Read more, and watch Robbie in action with Brian and Brenda in a short video:

A robot is helping an ailing couple stay in their home. Are more to come for an aging population? The decades-long quest to build home robots that are both helpful and lifelike — spurred on by fictional machines like The Jetsons’ humanoid maid Rosie —- is still mostly a pipe dream, but some developers are getting closer.