Frequently Asked Questions

A low-cost, field-configurable autonomous underwater vehicle developed at the MIT Marine Autonomy Lab. It is meant to be a reference platform that research groups and government labs can build, modify, instrument and repair themselves. See About.

Like my parents, I'm bad at naming things. (I'm a junior..)

A-size is the standard sonobuoy form factor: a tube about 4.875 in (124 mm) in diameter and about 36 in long. The Spurdog's 4.5 in hull is designed to be optionally A-size compatible.

All components and pressure vessels, 3D-printed and using Blue Robotics aluminum tubes, were tested to 400 m pressure at the DeepTech facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A growing set, each tested in the field: attitude and heading reference systems, Doppler velocity logs and inertial navigation systems, side-scan sonar, GNSS, pressure sensors, magnetometers and acoustic modems. Payload nosecones are swapped through standard mechanical, power and communication interfaces.

A complete default build, including the Nav-Cal nosecone with its DVL, costs about $8,000, with a calculated lower bound of $7,565.53 at September 2026 prices. The About page has the full breakdown by module and category.

Yes, as an approved user. The documentation covers ordering, fabrication (mainly SLA 3D printing), assembly, wiring, testing and configuration. See Documentation & Reproducing.

moos-ivp-spurdog, an autonomy and control toolbox built on the MOOS-IvP autonomy middleware. It covers state estimation, vehicle control, sensor drivers, acoustic communication, simulation and mission planning, and a simplified middleware bridge connects it to other systems such as ROS 2.

Yes. It is largely platform agnostic: only the aft-section control applications, which are specific to the Navigator flight controller, and the vehicle health monitor, by name, are tied to the Spurdog.

It is source-available rather than open source: hardware designs and software are shared with approved users.

U.S. Government entities are covered by a blanket license; universities and PIs are considered case by case. Partners outside the U.S. may also be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Sign up on the documentation site and email mit-spurdog-auv@mit.edu or rturrisi@mit.edu. The steps are on Documentation & Reproducing.

Yes. Field data releases, such as raw vehicle logs and side-scan sonar, are available to approved users through the documentation.

Please cite the Spurdog AUV paper:

R. Turrisi, H. Huang, F. Strömstad, J. Morrison, A. Papalia, J. Leonard, and M. Benjamin, “The Spurdog AUV: A Field Configurable and Optionally A-Sized Low-Cost AUV,” IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Symposium (AUV), 2024. Paper and BibTeX.