We wish to bring together a range of researchers and practitioners in Marine Robotics, Exploration and the sciences to address the principal challenges in inter-disciplinary interaction to identify core challenges and needs in the near term, which will have a measurable impact on society. In doing so, we wish to lay down key scientific and technical challenges that this select group of researchers can (and should) target in their ongoing research. With the recent interest of the European Commission with the Horizon 2020 program on Blue Growth, there is substantial support from funding agencies on the European continent; we wish to understand how this niche community has in the recent past, and will in the recent future, respond to such opportunities. While no specific concerted action is apparent in the United States, researchers there have had sustained support from multiple agencies including the NSF, ONR, NASA, and DARPA. By bringing together key individuals to this meeting, we hope to coalesce the technical and scientific ideas that are at the cutting edge to bridge the science-technology gap. This event follows the very successful 2.5-day workshop in February 2013 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain as part of a larger EUROCAST conference. This event is not co-located with any other.

To better focus the discussions, applications are sought in a number of selective areas that stand at the crossroads of science, technology, and industry. Namely, design, development, and application of marine robotic systems (e.g., autonomous surface vehicles (AUVs), autonomous underwater vehicle (AUVs), and Gliders) and more recently in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for

1. Marine Archaeology
2. Deep Sea Mining
3. Fisheries
4. Security
5. Exploration
6. Ocean science including biological and physical oceanography

The symposium will provide a forum for researchers from across academia in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia to engage in fruitful discussions on the impact of Marine Robotics by studying current developments and the challenges that lie ahead.