The first activity will consist of high-quality lectures from the university partners towards the students. These lectures will focus on explaining the basics of marine robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and their applications with a special attention to the environmental protection and mitigation field. Real-life examples of projects addressing climate change where project partners have been involved will be used to motivate students for the use of marine robots to fight climate change. Emerging applications of marine robots and AI to mitigate the anthropogenic pollution effects of COVID-19 will be introduced.
Moreover, AI explicability will be addressed. These lectures will take place throughout the project mostly in an online format to avoid unnecessary travels (and thus contribute to sustainable development) and will act as preparation for the hands-on activities. Lectures will also occur at the two transnational meetings where testing with robots will occur.
The end result of this activity will be an introductory interdisciplinary study course targeted for high school students on marine robotics and AI and their applications to environmental issues. The course will be composed by the series of lectures performed in this activity and will raise awareness to environmental issues affecting our seas. It will be replicable and usable by not only the participating organisations but by any other high school as the course will be available in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.