Multiple Bio-Inspired Father-Son Underwater Robot for Underwater Target Object Acquisition and Identification.

Ruochen An,Tendeng Awa,Shuxiang Guo,Yuanhua Yu,Chunying Li

doi:10.3390/mi13010025

Abstract

Underwater target acquisition and identification performed by manipulators having broad application prospects and value in the field of marine development. Conventional manipulators are too heavy to be used for small target objects and unsuitable for shallow sea working. In this paper, a bio-inspired Father–Son Underwater Robot System (FURS) is designed for underwater target object image acquisition and identification. Our spherical underwater robot (SUR), as the father underwater robot of the FURS, has the ability of strong dynamic balance and good maneuverability, can realize approach the target area quickly, and then cruise and surround the target object. A coiling mechanism was installed on SUR for the recycling and release of the son underwater robot. A Salamandra-inspired son underwater robot is used as the manipulator of the FURS, which is connected to the spherical underwater robot by a tether. The son underwater robot has multiple degrees of freedom and realizes both swimming and walking movement modes. The son underwater robot can move to underwater target objects. The vision system is installed to enable the FURS to acquire the image information of the target object with the aid of the camera, and also to identify the target object. Finally, verification experiments are conducted in an indoor water tank and outdoor swimming pool conditions to verify the effectiveness of the proposed in this paper.

Highlights

Underwater robots need to be commonly equipped with the manipulator for the task of executing acquisition [1,2,3,4] and identification operations [5,6,7,8]
The consists experiment consists of the unexperimental motion control of thecontrol son underwater robot and underwater target object derwater experimental motion of the son underwater robot and underwater target acquisition and identification
The The indoor teststests were performed in ain30 cmcm deep water tank indoor were performed a 30 deep water tankininorder ordertotoevaluate evaluate the the performance of the motion of the son underwater robot

Summary

Introduction

Underwater robots need to be commonly equipped with the manipulator for the task of executing acquisition [1,2,3,4] and identification operations [5,6,7,8]. An underwater manipulator will generate a reaction force, which will cause an impact on the stability of the underwater robot. In this way, a stability compensation controller is added to the control system of the underwater robot that enhances the complexity of the control system of underwater robots, making it challenging to implement an underwater acquisition and identification task. A father–son underwater robot system is a type of multi-robot system that can combine the

Methods

Results

Conclusion