Immersed in Innovation: A Journey into Marine Robotics with Elisa Miller

June 25, 2023

Navigating the Depths with Blue Robotics

In this episode of the American Shoreline Podcast, hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham explore the captivating field of marine robotics. Tyler, a recent addition to the marine robotics sector via his employment at Blue Robotics, introduces this episode's guest, Elisa Miller. Elisa, the Co-Founder and Director of Sales and Marketing at Blue Robotics, outlines her unique path from being a beach-goer in Cape May, New Jersey to leading the sales and marketing division of a burgeoning robotics company. As Tyler's colleague at Blue Robotics, Elisa sheds light on the company's strong ties with STEM education and its proactive campaign to distribute BlueROV2 kits to classrooms across the country. Listeners will also gain insights into Tyler's experience building a BlueROV2 when he first joined the company, the potential future of kelp aquaculture, and the recent introduction of BlueBoat, an autonomous surface vessel offering great promise for coastal nearshore bathymetric mapping.

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.