Human-robot interaction under water
The underwater environment is hazardous for humans due to the fact that they are dependent on technical equipment for life support, divers have limited navigation capabilities and communication with the surface, and the underwater environment is under constant influence of external environmental disturbances. In order to minimize some of these risks, the EU “CADDY – Cognitive Autonomous Diving Buddy” project introduced an autonomous underwater vehicle that is capable of assisting the diver during underwater operations. The talk will describe the final results obtained within the project, focusing on the three functionalities that the autonomous robotic system is capable of performing: buddy “observer”, buddy “guide”, and buddy “slave”. The “observer” monitors the diver at all times thus increasing diver safety, the “guide” leads the diver through the GPS-deprived underwater environment, while the “slave” assists the diver in performing specific tasks such as mosaicking of seabed.