Intervention AUV

About: Intervention AUV is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 980 publications have been published within this topic receiving 14130 citations.

Intervention Payload for Valve Turning with an AUV

Abstract: This paper presents an intervention payload for an AUV working in a valve turning operation in free-floating control mode. The payload consists of a stereo camera for panel detection, a 4 degrees of freedom electrical manipulator and a specifically designed end-effector, which contains a force and torque sensor, an in-hand camera and a passive effector for valve operation. This payload was designed to be integrated in Girona 500 AUV in the context of an oil application, in which a valve panel must be operated by turning some of the T-bar handles. The paper describes the design of the payload and its interaction with AUV. It also describes the perception systems that have been developed to detect and operate the valves. Experiments in a water tank show the performance of the AUV and the suitability of the payload.

Automated Coordinator Synthesis for Mission Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract: In our past work we have developed a hierarchical hybrid-model based mission control approach for autonomous underwater vehicles. The approach is aided by tools that allow graphical design, iterative redesign, and code generation for rapid deployment onto the target platform. The goal is to support current and future autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) programs to meet evolving requirements and capabilities. The hierarchical architecture contains mission controllers at each level which coordinate with other controllers, the vehicle, and the user for the successful execution of a mission. Here we propose an approach for automated synthesis of such controllers, and illustrate by applying the algorithm for automated synthesis of the highest-level coordinators.

The autonomous underwater vehicle "Pipsqueak"

Abstract: A team of freshman students was presented with the ambiguous challenge of designing an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) the size of a wallet. A Micro-AUV would be small enough to avoid many of the transport problems. Because of the potentially simple design of such an AUV, purchase and maintenance costs could be kept fairly low. An AUV such as Pipsqueak would likely be deployed into a lake river, where its size and the environment would allow it to investigate most efficiently. It could also be released in low current ocean areas, such as along beaches or coral reefs. In the future, we predict that as the Micro-AUVs develop and become more efficient and powerful, they might be used for deeper and more intense exploration. In this design, depth is sensed with a pressure gauge such as the Omega DPG1000. Temperature is measured with temperature sensors such as the Seabird 3Bfplus. Images of the surrounding environment would be useful in gathering scientific data. We specified using a CCD or CMOS camera that can interface with the micro controller and satisfy the volume requirements. There are large numbers of low cost, compact digital imaging cameras available today that can be readily incorporated into Pipsqueak. We propose to use the prebuilt RAMCAM from Spectronix. The dead reckoning, inertial based navigation system would be used for this vehicle. This system would have two rear facing horizontal thrusters, and one top facing vertical thruster, which will allow for turning as well as up and down motion.