Development of Robot Platform for Autonomous Underwater Intervention

Abstract

KRISO (Korea Research Institute of Ship & Ocean Engineering) started a project to develop the core algorithms for autonomous intervention using an underwater robot in 2017. This paper introduces the development of the robot platform for the core algorithms, which is an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) type with one 7-function manipulator. Before the detailed design of the robot platform, the 7E-MINI arm of the ECA Group was selected as the manipulator. It is an electrical type, with a weight of 51 kg in air (30 kg in water) and a full reach of 1.4 m. To design a platform with a small size and light weight to fit in a water tank, the medium-size manipulator was placed on the center of platform, and the structural analysis of the body frame was conducted by ABAQUS. The robot had an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), a DVL (Doppler Velocity Log), and a depth sensor for measuring the underwater position and attitude. To control the robot motion, eight thrusters were installed, four for vertical and the rest for horizontal motion. The operation system was composed of an on-board control station and operation S/W. The former included devices such as a 300 VDC power supplier, Fiber-Optic (F/O) to Ethernet communication converter, and main control PC. The latter was developed using an ROS (Robot Operation System) based on Linux. The basic performance of the manufactured robot platform was verified through a water tank test, where the robot was manually operated using a joystick, and the robot motion and attitude variation that resulted from the manipulator movement were closely observed.

Keywords

• Underwater robot
• Autonomous intervention
• 7-function manipulator
• Structural analysis
• ROS(Robot operating system)