Underwater Cable Inspection and Dual-arm Intervention
Underwater mission in subsea cable inspection and intervention is quite interesting yet very challenging. Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) carrying on dual arms is a promising marine robotic equipment to enable this mission possible. In this talk, firstly, a novel framework integrating the underwater cable localization and robust tracking algorithm is proposed to guide an AUV to inspect subsea cables. Two tri-axial magnetometers mounted on the AUV play an important role to render a simplified magnetic guidance which is capable to localize and track buried cables with very thin diameters. Second, the design of a dual-arm manipulator for underwater intervention is presented, which can be carried on an AUV for possible underwater cable maintenance. This underwater dual-arm tool is highlighted with full electric driven characteristics. Finally, results in numerical simulations and experimental tests in water are disseminated, and some remarks on future work and other running projects at Lab of ARMs conclude this speech.