A preliminary experiment combining marine robotics and citizenship engagement using imitation learning

In this paper, we describe a preliminary experiment of citizenship engagement in the context of marine robotics using imitation learning to train a controller that mimics human behavior. The experiment has been carried out during the Festival della Comunicazione in Camogli, Italy, in September 2019. In more detail, citizens have been asked to pilot a small, light, and safe autonomous surface vehicle in front of a crowded public beach with the goal of performing an S-shaped path. The trajectories and controls performed by non-expert human operators have been recorded with the aim of training an imitation system that, after collecting a sufficient number of trajectory-control pairs, has been able to drive the vehicle without human intervention. To learn the human behavior, echo state networks have been employed as approximating architectures. The resulting controller turned out to be very effective in successfully performing the considered experiment with a reduced amount of training trajectories by imitating the human behavior also in unknown situations. The success of this experiment may pave the way to new research processes where citizens are actively engaged. Copyright (C) 2020 The Authors

Underwater Drone Architecture for Marine Digital Twin: Lessons Learned from SUSHI DROP Project

The ability to observe the world has seen significant developments in the last few decades, alongside the techniques and methodologies to derive accurate digital replicas of observed environments. Underwater ecosystems present greater challenges and remain largely unexplored, but the need for reliable and up-to-date information motivated the birth of the Interreg Italy-Croatia SUSHI DROP Project (SUstainable fiSHeries wIth DROnes data Processing). The aim of the project is to map ecosystems for sustainable fishing and to achieve this goal a prototype of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), named Blucy, has been designed and developed. Blucy was deployed during project missions for surveying the benthic zone in deep waters of the Adriatic Sea with non-invasive techniques compared to the use of trawl nets. This article describes the strategies followed, the instruments applied and the challenges to be overcome to obtain an accurately georeferenced underwater survey with the goal of creating a marine digital twin

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

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

River Survey Evolution by means of Autonomous Surface Vehicles

Liguria (Italy) is one of the European regions where extreme events related to anthropogenic changes have had the greatest number of negative effects. In this area the use of suitable robots can improve monitoring the impact of anthropogenic pressure in wetland ecosystems. A recent bathymetry survey took place with an ASV named SWAMP that was specifically designed for the extremely shallow waters peculiar of rivers and inland waters. SWAMP was equipped with a single beam sonar protected inside the hull and performed a bathimetry in the area where Roja river flows not far from the Italy-France border. During the survey SWAMP proved to be easily transportable in a harsh environment and to be capable of working in extremely shallow water without any risk for sensors and propulsion and to be highly manoeuvrable in narrow space

Multi-Platforms and Multi-Sensors Integrated Survey for the Submerged and Emerged Areas

none7noIn this paper, the state-of-the-art concerning new methodologies for surveying in coastal areas in order to obtain an efficient quantification of submerged and emerged environments is described and evaluated. This work integrates an interdisciplinary approach involving both geomatics and robotics and focuses on definition, implementation, and development of a methodology to execute integrated aerial and underwater survey campaigns in shallow water areas. A preliminary test was performed at Gorzente Lakes near Genoa (Italy), to develop and integrate different survey techniques, enabling working in a smarter way, reducing costs and increasing safety for the operators. In this context, Remote Sensing techniques were integrated with a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) carrying an aerial optical sensor for photogrammetry and with an ASV (Autonomous Surface Vehicle) expressly addressed to work in extremely shallow water with underwater acoustic sensors (single echo sounder). The obtained continuous seamless DSM (Digital Surface Model) for the entire environment was reconstructed by the combination of different sensing systems by limiting reliance on the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) support. The obtained DSM was displayed in a 3D model leading to the evaluation of the water flow volume and rendering of 3D visualization.openAli Alakbar Karaki, Marco Bibuli, Massimo Caccia, Ilaria Ferrando, Sara Gagliolo, Angelo Odetti, Domenico SguersoKaraki, ALI ALAKBAR; Bibuli, Marco; Caccia, Massimo; Ferrando, Ilaria; Gagliolo, Sara; Odetti, Angelo; Sguerso, Domenic

Line following guidance control: Application to the Charlie unmanned surface vehicle

A line following guidance solution for underactuated marine systems is presented. The approach differs from other ones known in the literature in the definition of the error variables to be stabilized to zero. The proposed guidance technique has been applied to the Charlie USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle), developed by CNR-ISSIA Autonomous robotic systems and control group, and experimental results are presented

Analysis of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Propulsion Model for Motion Control

The knowledge of dynamic models to describe the behaviors of unmanned underwater vehicles allows to design a precise navigation, guidance, and control system. A practical identification strategy is presented in this contribution, a procedure that can be easily executed during field trials and that is able to obtain a rapid assessment about the characteristics of the vehicle dynamic model. The developed procedure is designed for small-size-class remotely operated vehicles, characterized by low operative speeds. The vehicle is equipped with proprioceptive sensors in charge of measuring data needed to identify its dynamic model. Building on the proposed practical identification experiments, different vehicle propulsion models are considered and analyzed: the first is a general theoretical model accounting for the vehicle hydrodynamics (standard marine Fossen model); the others are modified models introducing additional terms in the produced thrust (torque), namely, a term proportional to the rate of change of the propeller revolutions per minute (r.p.m.), dn/dt (where n is the revolution rate of the propeller), and a delayed copy of the terms connected to the fluid axial flow velocity. For all considered degrees of freedom, the fitting performance of the proposed models resulted to be superior to the first. Moreover, a control system building on the obtained dynamic characterization is described