Autonomous Underwater Docking: Towards vertical docking of an autonomous underwater vehicle to an unmanned surface vehicle in rough seas

The offshore industry is adopting Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), to decrease the costs associated with surveying underwater sites. Despite requiring less human supervision, AUVs still depend on costly servicing from a vessel, before and after deployment. Combining an AUV with an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), a survey vessel that...

Architecture and Task Plan Co-Adaptation with Metaplan for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) operate in complex environments and need to be able to adapt to sudden failures, or changes in the environment. To achieve autonomous operation, UUVs must have the ability to self-adapt in such cases. To effectively handle component failures and unexpected events, self-adaptation must be applied to both the...

Cost of Transport of Undulating Fin Propulsion

Autonomous robots are used to inspect, repair and maintain underwater assets. These tasks require energy-efficient robots, including efficient movement to extend available operational time. To examine the suitability of a propulsion system based on undulating fins, we built two robots with one and two fins, respectively, and conducted a...

A model predictive control approach towards the energy efficiency of submerged dredging

Autonomous submerged dredging offers numerous benefits, such as reduced ship resistance and lower vacuum requirements for the dredge pumps. However, this method also presents new challenges, such as stability and buoyancy control, which must be addressed to minimize the energy requirements and ensure cost-effectiveness and sustainability. To...

Raybot: Design and control of an underwater quay wall inspection vehicle

Quay walls are important structures that keep the water in harbours and canals within their bounds, and accommodate large infrastructure like roads or ship-handling structures on top of them. Due to their importance it is critical that they do not fail or collapse. Inspections are done to prevent this, as a better knowledge of the state of quay...

Bathymetry SLAM using reduced rank Gaussian Processes and DVL range measurements: For real-time underwater position estimation

Underwater position estimation is challenging due to the absence of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals. Underwater vehicles are typically equipped with a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) that measures the velocity relative to the seafloor. Aside from the velocity, the DVL also measures the range of each of the four beams. When compared...

A Model Predictive Control Approach Towards the Energy Efficiency of Submerged Dredging

Due to the expected increase in coastal replenishment along the Dutch coastline, and the need to decrease pollutant emissions in the Netherlands and worldwide, the Autonomous Low Energy Replenishment Dredger (ALERD) is developed. The ALERD is a sustainable and cost-effective solution to perform coastal replenishment work along the Dutch...

Mission Planning for Deep Sea Robots

Our challenge was to define a format for a mission plan, and develop an application which allows the users of the robot to create a mission plan effectively. This application should assist the user in the process of creating a mission plan as much as possible. Our client was Allseas who was already the sponsor of the LOBSTER project. During the...

Design of a magnetic coupling for reducing maintenance in long-term-autonomous bio-inspired underwater vehicles

Bio-inspired underwater vehicles are highly researched as a means for low-invasive monitoring. As a result, the performance of these vehicles has improved greatly. Research has thus far been directed towards the performances of the swimming motion. In order for the development of these bio-inspired underwater vehicles to continue, the increased...

Docking of underwater vehicle: Model, Autopilot design, and Guidance

Allseas engineering BV is an offshore company that uses underwater vehicles for conducting subsea operations. The two primary classification of such underwater vehicles are: Remote operated vehicle (ROV) and Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). As the names suggests, the former requires a human operator to control and the latter is a fully...

Recovery of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle by jumping out of the water like a penguin

This reports outlines the results of an investigation into the feasibility of recovery by jumping on a platform like a penguin, compared to performance of existing recovery systems. The enquiry begins by introducing the model that has been developed to simulate the hydrodynamics of the AUV, including the implementation of water exit and orbital...

A highly versatile autonomous underwater vehicle with biomechanical propulsion

An autonomous underwater vehicle with a biomechanical propulsion system is a possible answer to the demand for small, silent sensor platforms in many fields. The design of Galatea, a bio-mimetic AUV, involves four aspects: hydrodynamic shape, the propulsion, the motion control systems and payload. The shape of the hull is based on a modified...