Underwater intervention robotics: An outline of the Italian national project Maris

The Italian national project MARIS (Marine Robotics for Interventions) pursues the strategic objective of studying, developing, and integrating technologies and methodologies to enable the development of autonomous underwater robotic systems employable for intervention activities. These activities are becoming progressively more typical for the underwater offshore industry, for search-and-rescue operations, and for underwater scientific missions. Within such an ambitious objective, the project consortium also intends to demonstrate the achievable operational capabilities at a proof-of-concept level by integrating the results with prototype experimental systems

Autonomous Underwater Intervention: Experimental Results of the MARIS Project

open11noopenSimetti, E. ;Wanderlingh, F. ;Torelli, S. ;Bibuli, M. ;Odetti, A. ;Bruzzone, G. ; Lodi Rizzini, D. ;Aleotti, J. ;Palli, G. ;Moriello, L. ;Scarcia, U.Simetti, E.; Wanderlingh, F.; Torelli, S.; Bibuli, M.; Odetti, Angelo; Bruzzone, G.; Lodi Rizzini, D.; Aleotti, J.; Palli, G.; Moriello, L.; Scarcia, U

A natural interface for remote operation of underwater robots

Nowadays, an increasing need of intervention robotic systems can be observed in all kind of hazardous environments. In all these intervention systems, the human expert continues playing a central role from the decision-making point of view. For instance, in underwater domains, when manipulation capabilities are required, only Remote Operated Vehicles, commercially available, can be used, normally using master-slave architectures and relaying all the responsibility in the pilot. Thus, the role played by human- machine interfaces represents a crucial point in current intervention systems. This paper presents a User Interface Abstraction Layer and introduces a new procedure to control an underwater robot vehicle by using a new intuitive and immersive interface, which will show to the user only the most relevant information about the current mission. We conducted an experiment and found that the highest user preference and performance was in the immersive condition with joystick navigation.This research was partly supported by Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation DPI2011-27977-C03 (TRITON Project)

Design and evaluation of a natural interface for remote operation of underwater roter

Nowadays, an increasing need of intervention robotic systems can be observed in all kind of hazardous environments. In all these intervention systems, the human expert continues playing a central role from the decision making point of view. For instance, in underwater domains, when manipulation capabilities are required, only Remote Operated Vehicles, commercially available, can be used, normally using master-slave architectures and relaying all the responsibility in the pilot. Thus, the role played by human- machine interfaces represents a crucial point in current intervention systems. This paper presents a User Interface Abstraction Layer and introduces a new procedure to control an underwater robot vehicle by using a new intuitive and immersive interface, which will show to the user only the most relevant information about the current mission. Finally, some experiments have been carried out to compare a traditional setup and the new procedure, demonstrating reliability and feasibility of our approach.This research was partly supported by Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation DPI2011-27977-C03 (TRITON Project)

A COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES

The work in this thesis is concerned with the development of a novel and practical collision avoidance system for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Synergistically, advanced stochastic motion planning methods, dynamics quantisation approaches, multivariable tracking controller designs, sonar data processing and workspace representation, are combined to enhance significantly the survivability of modern AUVs. The recent proliferation of autonomous AUV deployments for various missions such as seafloor surveying, scientific data gathering and mine hunting has demanded a substantial increase in vehicle autonomy. One matching requirement of such missions is to allow all the AUV to navigate safely in a dynamic and unstructured environment. Therefore, it is vital that a robust and effective collision avoidance system should be forthcoming in order to preserve the structural integrity of the vehicle whilst simultaneously increasing its autonomy. This thesis not only provides a holistic framework but also an arsenal of computational techniques in the design of a collision avoidance system for AUVs. The design of an obstacle avoidance system is first addressed. The core paradigm is the application of the Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm and the newly developed version for use as a motion planning tool. Later, this technique is merged with the Manoeuvre Automaton (MA) representation to address the inherent disadvantages of the RRT. A novel multi-node version which can also address time varying final state is suggested. Clearly, the reference trajectory generated by the aforementioned embedded planner must be tracked. Hence, the feasibility of employing the linear quadratic regulator (LQG) and the nonlinear kinematic based state-dependent Ricatti equation (SDRE) controller as trajectory trackers are explored. The obstacle detection module, which comprises of sonar processing and workspace representation submodules, is developed and tested on actual sonar data acquired in a sea-trial via a prototype forward looking sonar (AT500). The sonar processing techniques applied are fundamentally derived from the image processing perspective. Likewise, a novel occupancy grid using nonlinear function is proposed for the workspace representation of the AUV. Results are presented that demonstrate the ability of an AUV to navigate a complex environment. To the author's knowledge, it is the first time the above newly developed methodologies have been applied to an A UV collision avoidance system, and, therefore, it is considered that the work constitutes a contribution of knowledge in this area of work.J&S MARINE LT