MARBLE History.

LABUST, LARICS and LAMOR are founded at FER by Professors Zoran Vukić, Zdenko Kovačić and Ivan Petrović, the formal establishment of the groups that carried decades of work in maritime, ground and aerial robotics, and in industrial robotic systems.

Those laboratories set the working method MARBLE still runs on: research proven on real hardware, in real conditions.

The capacity-building projects CURE (2009) and ACROSS (2011) accelerate research and human-resource development in robotics at FER, expanding laboratory capability and bringing a new generation of researchers and engineers into the field.

Together they build the depth of expertise that a dedicated centre of excellence would later require.

In 2024, a team of FER students and researchers wins the prestigious MBZIRC competition, an international challenge run in open water, judged on autonomous performance rather than laboratory results.

It is external confirmation of a capability built at home: multi-robot autonomy that holds up at sea.

On 11 September 2024, the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing formally establishes the Centre of Excellence MARBLE as an autonomous legal entity.

The move gives maritime robotics in Croatia a dedicated home, with its own mandate, staff and infrastructure.