Underwater V
407
Part B | 17.1
17. Underwater Vehicle Manipulators
Tae Won Kim, Giacomo Marani, Junku Yuh
This chapter covers current commercial developments and major research activities for underwater
vehicle-manipulator systems. It briefly describes
the dynamics of underwater vehicle-manipulator
systems to show the level of its complexity.
The teleoperation of the underwater vehiclemanipulator system and sensor-based underwater
vehicle manipulator controls, such as force control
and visual servoing are discussed. Furthermore,
it describes coordinated motion controls of underwater vehicle and manipulator systems and
presents the results of recent developments in
autonomous manipulation for autonomous underwater vehicles.
17.1 Underwater Vehicles
for Intervention Missions ..................... 407
17.2 Dynamics of Underwater Vehicle
Manipulators....................................... 409
17.3 Teleoperation of Underwater Vehicle
Manipulators....................................... 410
17.4 Sensor-Based Manipulator Control ....... 411
17.5 Coordinated Motion Control
of Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator
Systems ............................................... 413
17.6 Underwater Autonomous
Manipulation ...................................... 414
17.6.1 Phase 1: Undock from the Pier
and Navigate to a Search Area .... 417
17.6.2 Phase 2: Search
for the Submerged Platform ....... 417
17.6.3 Phase 3: Navigate and Dive
Toward the Platform .................. 417
17.6.4 Phase 4: Hover
(Station Keeping)....................... 417
17.6.5 Phase 5: Hook a Recovery Tool
to the Target Object
(Autonomous Manipulation)....... 418
17.6.6 Phase 6: Return to the Pier ........ 418
17.7 Conclusions ......................................... 419
References................................................... 419
17.1 Underwater Vehicles for Intervention Missions
As about 70% of our planet is covered with water, the
importance of the ocean cannot be overemphasized.
A great deal of effort has been put into acquiring living
and nonliving resources in the ocean. Most marine activities have worked on the ocean surface or shallow water, and deep-sea research activities have been limited
due to economic and technological reasons. However,
recent advancements in deep-sea technologies such as
unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), have made it
more feasible to exploit deep-sea resources, such as
mining for seabed minerals, collecting marine organisms for pharmaceutical applications, and extracting
oil and gas. There are basically two types of UUVs:
remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous
underwater vehicles (AUVs) [17.1–3]. While many
of them are just fly-by-type vehicles for survey and
monitoring, some of them are equipped with manipulators for intervention missions. While there have been
some recent developments and breakthroughs in underwater manipulator technologies for AUVs (so called
autonomous manipulation), most commercial UUVs
with manipulators are ROVs. A typical work-class ROV
for intervention missions has a 7 degrees-of-freedom
(DOF) manipulator and a 5 DOF grabber. The manipulator is used for interactive manipulation by a human
operator on the supporting ship, whereas the grabber is
used to maintain a relative position of ROV to the target object by grabbing a target structure in the presence
of an underwater current or wave. Most heavy-duty underwater manipulators are designed for ROVs and are
actuated by hydraulic drivers. They are also designed
for teleoperation rather than autonomous manipulation.
Table 17.1 lists samples of heavy duty underwater manipulators currently available in the market.
A typical work-class ROV for intervention missions
requires two individual operators: one steering the vehi-
407
Part B | 17.1
17. Underwater Vehicle Manipulators
Tae Won Kim, Giacomo Marani, Junku Yuh
This chapter covers current commercial developments and major research activities for underwater
vehicle-manipulator systems. It briefly describes
the dynamics of underwater vehicle-manipulator
systems to show the level of its complexity.
The teleoperation of the underwater vehiclemanipulator system and sensor-based underwater
vehicle manipulator controls, such as force control
and visual servoing are discussed. Furthermore,
it describes coordinated motion controls of underwater vehicle and manipulator systems and
presents the results of recent developments in
autonomous manipulation for autonomous underwater vehicles.
17.1 Underwater Vehicles
for Intervention Missions ..................... 407
17.2 Dynamics of Underwater Vehicle
Manipulators....................................... 409
17.3 Teleoperation of Underwater Vehicle
Manipulators....................................... 410
17.4 Sensor-Based Manipulator Control ....... 411
17.5 Coordinated Motion Control
of Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator
Systems ............................................... 413
17.6 Underwater Autonomous
Manipulation ...................................... 414
17.6.1 Phase 1: Undock from the Pier
and Navigate to a Search Area .... 417
17.6.2 Phase 2: Search
for the Submerged Platform ....... 417
17.6.3 Phase 3: Navigate and Dive
Toward the Platform .................. 417
17.6.4 Phase 4: Hover
(Station Keeping)....................... 417
17.6.5 Phase 5: Hook a Recovery Tool
to the Target Object
(Autonomous Manipulation)....... 418
17.6.6 Phase 6: Return to the Pier ........ 418
17.7 Conclusions ......................................... 419
References................................................... 419
17.1 Underwater Vehicles for Intervention Missions
As about 70% of our planet is covered with water, the
importance of the ocean cannot be overemphasized.
A great deal of effort has been put into acquiring living
and nonliving resources in the ocean. Most marine activities have worked on the ocean surface or shallow water, and deep-sea research activities have been limited
due to economic and technological reasons. However,
recent advancements in deep-sea technologies such as
unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), have made it
more feasible to exploit deep-sea resources, such as
mining for seabed minerals, collecting marine organisms for pharmaceutical applications, and extracting
oil and gas. There are basically two types of UUVs:
remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous
underwater vehicles (AUVs) [17.1–3]. While many
of them are just fly-by-type vehicles for survey and
monitoring, some of them are equipped with manipulators for intervention missions. While there have been
some recent developments and breakthroughs in underwater manipulator technologies for AUVs (so called
autonomous manipulation), most commercial UUVs
with manipulators are ROVs. A typical work-class ROV
for intervention missions has a 7 degrees-of-freedom
(DOF) manipulator and a 5 DOF grabber. The manipulator is used for interactive manipulation by a human
operator on the supporting ship, whereas the grabber is
used to maintain a relative position of ROV to the target object by grabbing a target structure in the presence
of an underwater current or wave. Most heavy-duty underwater manipulators are designed for ROVs and are
actuated by hydraulic drivers. They are also designed
for teleoperation rather than autonomous manipulation.
Table 17.1 lists samples of heavy duty underwater manipulators currently available in the market.
A typical work-class ROV for intervention missions
requires two individual operators: one steering the vehi-