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The MORPH project (FP 7, 2012–2016) advances a novel concept of an underwater robotic system composed of a number of spatially separated mobile robot-modules, carrying complementary resources. Instead of being physically coupled, the modules are connected via communication links that allow a limited flow of information among them. Without rigid links, the so called Morph Supra-Vehicle can reconfigure...
The MORPH project (FP 7, 2012–2016) aims at the development of efficient methods and tools to map the underwater environment in situations that defy existing technology. Namely, missions that involve underwater surveying and marine habitat mapping of rugged terrain and structures with full 3D complexity, including near-vertical cliffs. Potential applications include the study of cold water coral reefs...
Nowadays, autonomous intervention is getting more attention in the underwater robotics community. Few research projects on this matter are currently under development. In this context, and after a first successful experience in the RAUVI Spanish project (2009–2011), the authors are currently involved in the TRIDENT project (2010–2013), funded by the European Commission. To succeed in autonomous intervention,...
This paper reports our experience in developing a team-based project activity to promote engineering programs among secondary school students. The aim of the activity is to increase the interest of students for science and technology in general, but also to promote engineering skills, capabilities and values, leading to attract more secondary school students to enrollment for engineering programs...
This paper proposes a pose-based algorithm to solve the full Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) problem for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), navigating in an unknown and possibly unstructured environment. A probabilistic scan matching technique using range scans gathered from a Mechanical Scanning Imaging Sonar (MSIS) is used together with the robot dead-reckoning displacements. The...
This work introduces the main aspects related with a new architecture defined for an ongoing research project named RAUVI (i.e. Reconfigurable AUV for Intervention Missions). Two initially independent architectures for the underwater vehicle and the robotic arm have been combined into a new schema that allows for reactive and deliberative behaviours on both subsystems. Reactive actions are performed...
This shows an on-going project named RAUVI (i.e., Reconfigurable AUV for Intervention). This project aims to design and develop an Underwater Autonomous Robot, able to perceive the environment by means of acoustic and optic sensors, and equipped with a robotic arm in order to autonomously perform simple intervention tasks. A complete simulation environment, including this new concept of robot, has...
This paper proposes MSISpIC, a probabilistic sonar scan matching algorithm for the localization of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The technique uses range scans gathered with a Mechanical Scanning Imaging Sonar (MSIS), the robot displacement estimated through dead-reckoning using a Doppler velocity log (DVL) and a motion reference unit (MRU). The proposed method is an extension of the pIC...
This paper presents the design and implementation of a mission control system (MCS) for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) based on Petri nets. In the proposed approach the Petri nets are used to specify as well as to execute the desired autonomous vehicle mission. The mission is easily described using an imperative programming language called mission control language (MCL) that formally describes...
In dam inspection tasks, an underwater robot has to grab images while surveying the wall meanwhile maintaining a certain distance and relative orientation. This paper proposes the use of an MSIS (mechanically scanned imaging sonar) for relative positioning of a robot with respect to the wall. An imaging sonar gathers polar image scans from which depth images (range & bearing) are generated. Depth...
This paper proposes a pose-based algorithm to solve the full SLAM problem for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), navigating in an unknown and possibly unstructured environment. The technique incorporate probabilistic scan matching with range scans gathered from a mechanical scanning imaging sonar (MSIS) and the robot dead-reckoning displacements estimated from a Doppler velocity log (DVL) and...
The last generation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) is being developed with intervention capabilities in mind. These capabilities will provide easy and early inspection and maintenance of subsea offshore structures. The technology developments that implies this upgrade comprise new techniques for subsea vehicle localization, including detection and estimation algorithms. A reliable technique...
This paper presents a sonar-based localization approach for an autonomous underwater vehicle, valid both in structured and unstructured environments. The presented system is based on a particle filter approach to represent the vehicle state. It uses a mechanical scanning imaging sonar, as the main sensor to have information about the environment. In this paper we present the chosen approach, highlighting...
The present work shows an ongoing project named RAUVI (i.e. Reconfigurable AUV for Intervention). This project aims to design and develop an underwater autonomous robot, able to perceive the environment by means of acoustic and optic sensors, and equipped with a robotic arm in order to autonomously perform simple intervention tasks. A complete simulation environment, including this new concept of...
This paper describes a navigation system for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in partially structured environments, such as dams, harbors, marinas or marine platforms. A mechanical scanning imaging sonar is used to obtain information about the location of planar structures present in such environments. A modified version of the Hough transform has been developed to extract line features, together...
A pioneer team of students of the University of Girona decided to design and develop an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) called ICTINEUAUV to face the Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge-Europe (SAUC-E). The prototype has evolved from the initial computer aided design (CAD) model to become an operative AUV in the short period of seven months. The open frame and modular design principles together...
This paper presents a complete control architecture that has been designed to fulfill predefined missions with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The control architecture has three levels of control: mission level, task level and vehicle level. The novelty of the work resides in the mission level, which is built with a Petri network that defines the sequence of tasks that are executed depending...
In this paper we describe a system for underwater navigation with AUVs in partially structured environments, such as dams, ports or marine platforms. An imaging sonar is used to obtain information about the location of planar structures present in such environments. This information is incorporated into a feature-based SLAM algorithm in a two step process: (I) the full 360deg sonar scan is undistorted...
This paper proposes a high-level reinforcement learning (RL) control system for solving the action selection problem of an autonomous robot. Although the dominant approach, when using RL, has been to apply value function based algorithms, the system here detailed is characterized by the use of direct policy search methods. Rather than approximating a value function, these methodologies approximate...
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