Abstract
In underwater environments restricted from human access, many intervention tasks are performed by using robotic systems like underwater manipulators. Commonly, the robotic systems are tele-operated from operating ships; the operation is apt to be inefficient because of restricted underwater information and complex operation methods. In this paper, an assistance technique for tele-manipulation is investigated and evaluated experimentally. The key idea behind the assistance technique is to operate the manipulator by touching several points on the camera images. To implement the idea, the position estimation technique utilizing the touch inputs is investigated. The assistance technique is simple but significantly helpful to increase temporal efficiency of tele-manipulation for underwater tasks. Using URI-T, a cable burying ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) developed in Korea, the performance of the proposed assistance technique is verified. The underwater cable gripping task, one of the cable maintenance tasks carried out by the cable burying ROV, is employed for the performance evaluation, and the experimental results are analyzed statistically. The results show that the assistance technique can improve the efficiency of the tele-manipulation considerably in comparison with the conventional tele-operation method.
Highlights
Received: 2 March 2021Accepted: 27 April 2021Published: 30 April 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.In underwater environments restricted from human access, many tasks have been performed by using underwater robots [1,2]
The results show that the assistance technique can improve the efficiency of the tele-manipulation considerably in comparison with the conventional tele-operation method
In the case of seizing step, the averaged time is reduced as 41.69% with statistical significance. In both tele-operation mode, the seizing task is performed by the conventional tele-operation method
Summary
In underwater environments restricted from human access, many tasks have been performed by using underwater robots [1,2]. The tasks involve installation and repair of underwater cables, e.g., High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cables between lands and islands [3], underwater communication cables [4], and underwater cables for ocean energy developments as offshore wind turbines [5]. The cables are commonly buried below the seabed for protection. The underwater cable is cut and recovered to the ship [6]. The tasks regarding underwater cables are usually performed in the deep sea where people are restricted from accessing it, and require a high amount of power. Large size underwater robots for heavy-duty tasks are used
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