A new paradigm for marine ecological monitoring through swarm intelligence, digital twins, and Human-Swarm interaction.

Abstract

Marine and coastal ecosystems are among the least observable yet most rapidly changing environments, where climate impacts, pollution, and biodiversity loss demand monitoring and intervention at scales that manual sampling and single-robot deployments cannot sustain. This paper argues for a conceptual shift in ecological monitoring and restoration toward networked robotic ecosystems, adopting cooperative swarms of autonomous aquatic robots coupled to in-situ digital twins and human-in-the-loop supervision. We use the REMORA project as a concrete instantiation of this paradigm, outlining an integrated architecture in which multiple low-cost, persistent robots perform distributed sensing and targeted interventions, while a continuously updated digital twin fuses multi-source data to support predictive assessment, "what-if" scenario exploration, and decision support. A dedicated human-swarm interaction layer enables non-roboticist stakeholders (e.g., environmental managers and aquaculture operators) to specify intent, manage exceptions, and maintain trust without micromanaging individual units. By linking advances in swarm intelligence, sensor integration, AI-enabled analysis, and interactive decision-making, the proposed approach targets durable, scalable, and socially relevant solutions for ecological monitoring and ecosystem management, spanning aquaculture, marinas, and broader coastal environments, and provides a roadmap for translating these technologies from controlled trials to sustained field operations.