Design of a deployable underwater robot for the recovery of autonomous underwater vehicles based on origami technique

Abstract

The recovery of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has been a challenging mission due to the limited localization accuracy and movement capability of the AUVs. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel design of a deployable underwater robot (DUR) for the recovery mission. Utilizing the origami structure, the DUR can transform between open and closed states to maximize the performance at different recovery stages. At the approaching stage, the DUR will remain closed state to reduce the drag force. While at the capturing state, the DUR will deploy to form a much larger opening to improve the success rate of docking. Meanwhile, the thrusters’ configuration also changes with the transformation of the robot body. The DUR can achieve a high driven force in the forward direction with the closed state which leads to a fast-approaching speed. While with the open state, the DUR can achieve more balanced force and torque maneuverability to prepare for agile position adjustment for the docking. CFD simulation has been used to analyze the drag forces and identify the hydrodynamic coefficients. A prototype of the robot has been fabricated and tested in an indoor water pool. Both simulation and experiment results validate the feasibility of the proposed design.