IAUVcontrol · Force/position control system to enable compliant manipulation from a floating I-AUV
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-05-01 → 2019-04-30
- EU contribution
- €158,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Force/position control system to enable compliant manipulation from a floating I-AUV
The aim of this project was to develop and implement computer algorithms to control the motion of an autonomous underwater robot, equipped with a manipulator, called an intervention autonomous underwater vehicle (I-AUV), so that it can perform missions requiring contact with the environment, especially if the character of this contact has to be controlled. These kind of missions arise in the underwater operations carried out by oil-gas industry companies and researchers around the world. A typical example is non-destructive testing of underwater structures, where a probe has to be put on the structure to take measurements. The control of contact forces gives the ability to perform the operation safely, i.e., without damaging the probe, and to be sure that the contact was maintained during the measurement. Other examples include cleaning of underwater surfaces, drilling, core sampling, picking up delicate objects etc. These kind of operations are still carried out by remotely operated vehicles (ROV) or divers. Majority of these vehicles are work class ROV, which require a special dynamic positioning (DP) vessel with a crane system to deploy them, due to their mass and power requirements. The cost of running such systems is extremely high and a large number of people has to be involved - ship crew, ROV operators, divers etc. Therefore, the goal of the research was to achieve completely autonomous operation of the underwater vehicle-manipulator system, which makes it possible to use smaller vehicles, not requiring a special vessel to deploy and handled by a single operator. It is needed for the small vehicles to be autonomous because coordination of the motion of the vehicle and the motion of the manipulator is not possible by a remote operator, due to the large disturbances introduced by the latter on the former, especially when contact with environment occurs.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The aim of this project is the design and implementation of a control system for an intervention autonomous underwater vehicle (I-AUV), composed of an AUV equipped with a multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DOF) manipulator, to enable it to perform fully autonomous compliant underwater manipulation. During this fellowship the experienced researcher will implement algorithms based on dynamic control/force control and perform extensive experimental trials with the real system, to present results beyond the state of the art. This research is aimed to: (1) develop a dynamical model of the system to be able to use model-based control approaches (2) extend the underwater robot simulation software used in the lab to include manipulator dynamics (3) select the most appropriate control algorithm or a combination of algorithms to realise active compliance (4) develop the control system utilising control theory and simulation (5) extend the capabilities of the robot manipulator (6) implement the control system on the robot (7) perform extensive experimental trials in realistic scenarios, in the test tank and in the sea (port) (8) write a proposal for the funding of the next stage of the research. The experienced researcher will broaden his knowledge to the fields of modeling and identification of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), mechanical design of underwater equipment, mapping and localisation in the underwater environment as well as operating UUVs in the sea. He will be able to work on a one-of-a-kind Girona500 I-AUV. He will also be involved in the supervision of research projects of Master students and a new PhD student. With the supervision of Dr. Pere Ridao, the researcher will hone his proposal writing skills. All of this will ensure, that with the help of this fellowship, the experienced researcher will reach professional maturity and independence. Moreover, the vast network of contacts in the field that the UdG has collected will open up many career possibilities.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA · GironaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union