Virtual Reality and Oceanography: Overview, Applications, and Perspective

With the ongoing, exponential increase in ocean data from autonomous platforms, satellites, models, and in particular, the growing field of quantitative imaging, there arises a need for scalable and cost-efficient visualization tools to interpret these large volumes of data. With the recent proliferation of consumer grade head-mounted displays, the emerging field of virtual reality (VR) has demonstrated its benefit in numerous disciplines, ranging from medicine to archeology. However, these benefits have not received as much attention in the ocean sciences. Here, we summarize some of the ways that virtual reality has been applied to this field. We highlight a few examples in which we (the authors) demonstrate the utility of VR as a tool for ocean scientists. For oceanic datasets that are well-suited for three-dimensional visualization, virtual reality has the potential to enhance the practice of ocean science

Development of a telepresence manipulation system

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Model Based Teleoperation to Eliminate Feedback Delay NSF Grant BCS89-01352 Second Report

We are conducting research in the area of teleoperation with feedback delay. Delay occurs with earth-based teleoperation in space and with surface-based teleoperation with untethered submersibles when acoustic communication links are involved. The delay in obtaining position and force feedback from remote slave arms makes teleoperation extremely difficult leading to very low productivity. We have combined computer graphics with manipulator programming to provide a solution to the problem. A teleoperator master arm is interfaced to a graphics based simulator of the remote environment. The system is then coupled with a robot manipulator at the remote, delayed site. The operator\u27s actions are monitored to provide both kinesthetic and visual feedback and to generate symbolic motion commands to the remote slave. The slave robot then executes these symbolic commands delayed in time. While much of a task proceeds error free, when an error does occur, the slave system transmits data back to the master environment which is then reset to the error state from which the operator continues the task

Exploration of the Southern California Borderland

E/V Nautilus cruise NA075 returned to the Southern California Continental Borderland, an area that remains largely unexplored. Part of the broader North America-Pacific plate boundary, this region extends ~300 km west of the San Andreas Fault and displays an unusually rugged physiography. During the cruise, the multibeam sonar mapped ~5,200 km2 of seafloor, and ROVs Hercules and Argus were deployed for 16 dives to explore geological and biological targets (Figure 1) and collect samples

\u3cem\u3eNautilus\u3c/em\u3e Sample 2016: New Techniques and Partnerships

In 2016, E/V Nautilus and the ROV Hercules collected 549 geological, biological, and water samples (2,022 subsamples) to characterize several US West Coast national marine sanctuaries, the Cascadia margin, and offshore southern California. Most samples are archived at partnering repositories: geological samples to the Marine Geological Samples Lab at the University of Rhode Island and biological samples to Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. The national marine sanctuary samples were split between these repositories and the California Academy of Sciences. During this field season, we experimented with new sampling methods to improve exploration efficiency and robustness

3D locomotion biomimetic robot fish with haptic feedback

This thesis developed a biomimetic robot fish and built a novel haptic robot fish system based on the kinematic modelling and three-dimentional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) hydrodynamic analysis. The most important contribution is the successful CFD simulation of the robot fish, supporting users in understanding the hydrodynamic properties around it

EVALUATION OF HAPTIC FEEDBACK METHODS FOR TELEOPERATED EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL ROBOTS

This thesis reports on the effects of sensory substitution methods for force feedback during teleoperation of robotic systems used for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). Existing EOD robotic systems do not feature any type of haptic feedback. It is currently unknown what benefits could by gained by supplying this information to the operator. In order to assess the benefits of additional feedback, a robotic gripper was procured and instrumented in order to display the forces applied by the end effector to an object. In a contact-based event detection task, users were asked to slowly grasp an object as lightly as possible and stop when a grasp was achieved. The users were supplied with video feedback of the gripper and either (1) no haptic feedback, (2) surrogate visual feedback, or (3) surrogate vibrotactile feedback. The force information came exclusively from the current being used to drive the gripper. Peak grasp forces were measured and compared across conditions. The improvements gained from vibrotactile over no haptic feedback feedback were statistically significant and reduced the threshold at which event detection took place from an average of 8.43 N to an average of 5.97 N. Qualitative information from the users showed a significant preference for this type of feedback. Vibrotactile feedback was shown to be very useful, while surrogate visual force feedback was not found to be helpful quantitatively nor was it preferred by the users. This feedback information would be inexpensive to implement and could be easily added to existing systems, thereby improving their capabilities to the EOD technician

Optimisation of docking locations for remotely operated vehicles.

This thesis describes work aimed at developing practical methods for determining the best docking locations for an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) when inspecting an offshore platform. ROVs are used extensively in the offshore oil and gas industry to conduct a large variety of intervention tasks such as visual inspection, operational monitoring, equipment installation and operation, debris recovery, and so on. However, they have found only limited use in the more difficult tasks such as the detailed inspection of complex weld geometries. These complex welds are, however, found extensively in the construction of the majority of offshore structures and platforms ('oil rigs'). Furthermore, there is a safety requirement to have them inspected regularly since failure of these welds can potentially lead to catastrophic failure of the structures, the majority of which are manned. A number of specialist ROV systems have been developed that are able to attach onto platform structures and use their manipulators to conduct inspection. However, due to the short reach of the manipulators and the complex geometry of the welds (often encumbered with protruding pipes and other fittings) the success of any inspection is crucially dependent on a good initial choice of ROV docking position. This thesis will describe the problems and current manual planning methods, and then detail the development of two new methods for automated optimisation of docking positions - firstly using neural networks, and secondly using more conventional numerical processing. This thesis will also review related work in the field, such as the development of neural networks and their applications in the general offshore environment and in the control of ROVs and robot manipulator arms, and other approaches to ROV docking. It will further describe the use of the system developed here for planning docking positions on example commercial ROV inspection work programmes