Intervention AUV

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

Grasping for the Seabed: Developing a New Underwater Robot Arm for Shallow-Water Intervention

Abstract: A new underwater robot arm was developed through intensive cooperation between different academic institutions and an industrial company. The manipulator, which was initially designed to be teleoperated, was adapted for our autonomy needs. Its dimensions and weight were reduced, and its kinematic model was developed so that autonomous control can be performed with it. We compare several commercially available underwater manipulators and describe the development of the new one, from its initial configuration to its mechanical adaptation, modeling, control, and final assembly on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The feasibility and reliability of this arm is demonstrated in water tank conditions, where various innovative autonomous object-recovery operations are successfully performed, both in stand-alone operation and integrated in an AUV prototype.

Sensor networks of freely drifting autonomous underwater explorers

Abstract: With the increasing sophistication of both manned and unmanned systems for remote ocean exploration, a wealth of knowledge about heretofore-unknown oceanic processes has become available. However, no technologies currently exist to observe organisms and processes without disturbing them, as they move with the natural motion of the oceans. We propose a new class of ocean sensing, whereby free-floating underwater devices operate autonomously and collaborate through an acoustic underwater network between them. This new class of sensing will provide a window into understanding the multifaceted interactions between the ocean's currents, underwater ecosystems and our impact on them. In this paper, we will present the design of our underwater vehicle, which drifts freely with the ocean currents and is equipped with a buoyancy control piston. Results from sea tests illustrate the feasibility of our design, including its depth tracking abilities.

Toward Autonomous Exploration in Confined Underwater Environments

Abstract: In this field note, we detail the operations and discuss the results of an experiment conducted in the unstructured environment of an underwater cave complex using an autonomous underwater vehicle AUV. For this experiment, the AUV was equipped with two acoustic sonar sensors to simultaneously map the caves' horizontal and vertical surfaces. Although the caves' spatial complexity required AUV guidance by a diver, this field deployment successfully demonstrates a scan-matching algorithm in a simultaneous localization and mapping framework that significantly reduces and bounds the localization error for fully autonomous navigation. These methods are generalizable for AUV exploration in confined underwater environments where surfacing or predeployment of localization equipment is not feasible, and they may provide a useful step toward AUV utilization as a response tool in confined underwater disaster areas.

Design of a semi-autonomous underwater vehicle for intervention missions (SAUVIM)

Abstract: As the research in the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) field intensifies and the necessity of underwater robotic vehicles (URVs) increases, the requirements of an URV have expanded from simple fly-by missions to more complex, intervention missions. The Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawaii is in the midst of designing and developing a semi-autonomous underwater vehicle for intervention missions (SAUVIM). The proposed open structure AUV possesses a fully functional manipulator, various mission sensors, and composite pressure vessels enclosed in a flooded composite fairing. The vehicle allows human-intervention from a land-based computer system capable of vehicle path-planning and monitoring.