I-AUVs: Past, Present and Future
Over the last three decades, Intervention Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (I-AUVs) have evolved from an ambitious research vision into a promising technology for autonomous subsea operations. In this keynote, Prof. Pere Ridao presents a personal perspective on this evolution, drawing on more than two decades of research in underwater intervention, perception, mapping, and manipulation.
The presentation reviews advances in navigation, SLAM, perception, and vehicle-manipulator coordination that have enabled increasingly sophisticated intervention tasks, including object recovery, valve turning, connector plugging, and infrastructure inspection. It also highlights recent achievements in cooperative underwater robotics, where multiple autonomous vehicles collaborate to transport large payloads and perform assembly tasks. Particular attention is given to resident intervention systems based on subsea docking stations, enabling persistent operations through autonomous recharging, data transfer, and mission updates. The talk further examines ASV/I-AUV tandems, where surface vehicles support underwater missions, providing an energy-efficient and low-carbon alternative to conventional vessel/ROV operations.
Looking ahead, the keynote discusses challenges such as operation in unstructured environments, interaction with previously unseen objects, uncertainty-aware planning, long-term autonomy, and coordination of heterogeneous robot teams. Advances in artificial intelligence, digital twins, and adaptive decision-making are expected to play a key role in addressing these challenges.
The keynote concludes with a vision of cooperating marine robots becoming trusted operational assets for offshore infrastructure, renewable energy, marine science, and environmental monitoring, enabling persistent and sustainable use of the oceans.