Manipulator Systems for Autonomous Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

By Vladislav Yurievich Zanin, JSС “NPP PT “OCEANOS”, General Director Adviser.   

By Igor Vladilenovich Kozhemyakin, Head of Defence Research and Developments Agency of FSBEI HPE State Marine Technical University of St. Petersburg. 

Fast-paced development of underwater robot systems for underwater hydrocarbon production and military applications resulted in forming of the type of autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles (AUV)1.

 

Taking into account the preprogrammed behavior of AUV missions, the basic tasks were mainly monitoring and survey operations in large areas (mapping) or at seabed linear facilities (cable routes, main pipelines). Best practices related to AUVs along with technology evolution and estimation of economic factors eventually allowed to use AUVs for operations with the point seabed infrastructure: vertical and horizontal “trees” of wellhead fittings, rise pipes and anchor lines2, and also with near-surface and sunken objects in the aquatic environment. This application gave cause to single out a separate subclass of AUVs - Autonomous Inspection Vehicle (AIV). Efficient performance of AUVs for “classic” and new applications gave an impetus to the development of breakthrough technologies, i.e. to implement functioning of an AUV manipulator system4, not only for technocratic purposes (hydrocarbon production/military applications), but also for scientific community with regard to the most sophisticated deep-water sampling5.  

The designer and manufacturer community in the Russian Federation is also involved in this process. For the last five years, not only a number of newly developed underwater robot systems, but also a number of companies and organizations involved in development of AUVs and applicable component6 are intensely growing along with a larger number of scientific conferences devoted to control systems applicable to underwater robotics7,8.  

In connection with these events, designer teams at Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education (FSBEI HPE) “St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University” (SMTU of St. Petersburg) and JSС “NPP PT “Oceanos” involved in in-house co-development of a number of undersea robot systems9,11,12 have started the research planning phase to develop manipulator systems for Class II13 remotely operated unmanned vehicles (ROV) and AUV.

The decision to select these types of robot systems as carriers for manipulators under development is not spontaneous.  The unifiers are “low displacement” of underwater vehicles (or “low payload”) and low surface and submerged stability with regard to weights to be attached and to moment variation. If the effect of these factors may be somehow eliminated by intense use of ROV propulsion/steering units (in manual and semi-automatic control modes), for AUVs with their limited onboard power supply and some design features, this approach is unfit. Therefore, according to the analysis of the existing technical solutions and theoretical research14,15,16,17,18, along with experience of JSС “NPP PT “Oceanos” in operating Class II N-300 ROV with hydraulic and electrical manipulator systems, plus in-house analysis data, the development of a modular manipulator with electric drives is accepted as a reasonable solution. In addition to the selection of manipulator actuator type, a considerable amount of works has been completed to analyze the design of a manipulator system and its coupling/interface with the carrier. The findings have been used as the basis of detailed design and simulation of a number of manipulators for the sake of the initial development of a manipulator system for RUV with further coupling with the hybrid glider (the AUV based on the fluid mechanics principle, with a batch-operated propulsion unit and remote control), and eventually, with a fully autonomous AUV.

No doubt that in addition to the design of the manipulator actuator, a tougher challenge is to provide software control or software-based remote control of the manipulator system, but with regard to fast-paced development of synthetic vision systems and high-speed underwater communications19,20, the issues related to software support for the AUV manipulator system (for ROV, no such issues exist) are solvable.

Anyway, by the time Russian scientists would come to the practical solution for the matter at hand, it is planned that a number of manipulators would be available, including not only domestic products fit for these tasks, but also ROV-mounted products that have passed field tests.

Applied by FSBEI HPE SMTU of St. Petersburg and JSС “NPP PT “Oceanos”, such combined methods used to prepare for accomplishment of problem-oriented tasks have already proved successful. They allow to test the following components and assemblies of underwater robot systems, using the in-house developed glider-type mobile test bed:

  • IST-1M current meter developed by Institute of Natural and Technical Systems, Sevastopol (former Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science (FSBIS) Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS);
  • PDS-1 high-precision pressure unit, JSC “NPP “Radar-MMS”;
  • high-precision temperature sensor, JSC “NPP “Radar-MMS”;
  • long baseline acoustic positioning system, Underwater Communication & Navigation Laboratory, JSC

Besides, taking into account the bench-type design (mobile test bed) of the existing and future AUVs and control systems developed by FSBEI HPE SMTU of St. Petersburg and JSС “NPP PT “Oceanos”, the structure and circuits of underwater vehicles contain integrated mechanical and electrical interfaces for the manipulator system and auxiliary equipment for faster adaptation and testing of AUV-mounted manipulator systems, including in‑house products and products developed by other companies. 

 

JSС “NPP PT “Oceanos”
P.O. box 21
St. Petersburg, 194295, Russia
Tel./Fax (812) 292 37 16
office@oceanos.ru

FSBEI HPE State Marine Technical University of St. Petersburg
3, Lotsmanskaya Str.,
St. Petersburg, 190008 Russia
Tel./Fax (812) 714 68 22
1861vp@mail.ru


References:

  1. www.imtp.febras.ru
  2. www.ecagroup.com
  3. www.subseacom
  4. “Development of an underwater manipulator mounted for an AUV” M. Ishitsuka, 2005, Oceans 2005 MTS/IEEE, Washington D.C.
  5. “Development and Testing of a Dexterous Manipulation Capability for Autonomous Undersea Vehicles” Barrett E. Dillow, David L. Akin, Graig R. Carignan, 2009, AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference, Seattle
  6. robotrends.ru/robopedia/katalog-podvodnyh-robotov
  7. psct.ru
  8. imtp.febras.ru/tpomo-6-28-sentyabrya-2-oktyabrya-2015-g.html
  9. oceanos.ru/news/98
  10. oceanos.ru/files/image/news/KVZ_SMTU/SMTU_KVZ_2015.pdf
  11. oceanos.ru/news/150
  12. oceanos.ru/news/157
  13. imca-int.com
  14. ecagroup.com/en/solutions/rov-platform-inspection
  15. hydro-lek.com
  16. rovinnovations.com/manipulator-arms.html
  17. “Virtual kinematic chains to solve the underwater vehicle-manipulator systems redundancy” Carlos H.F. dos Santos, Raul Guenther, Daniel Martins, Edson R. De Pieri, 2006, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, July/Sept.
  18. “Autonomous I-AUV Docking for Fixed-base Manipulation” Narcís Palomeras, Pere Ridao, David Ribas, Guillem Vallicrosa, 2014, 19th World Congress The International Federation of Automatic Control, Cape Town
  19. oceanos.ru/news/160
  20. unavlab.com

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