A new underwater robot arm was developed throughintensive cooperation between different academicinstitutions and an industrial company. Themanipulator, which was initially designed to beteleoperated, was adapted for our autonomyneeds. Its dimensions and weight were reduced, and its kinematicmodel was developed so that autonomous control canbe performed with it. We compare several commerciallyavailable underwater manipulators and describe the developmentof the new one, from its initial configuration to itsmechanical adaptation, modeling, control, and final assemblyon an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The feasibilityand reliability of this arm is demonstrated in water tank conditions,where various innovative autonomous object-recoveryoperations are successfully performed, both instand-alone operation and integrated in an AUV prototype.
展开▼
