A visual servoing system for an aquatic swimming robot

This paper describes a visual servoing system for an underwater legged robotic system named AQUA and initial experiments with the system performed in the open sea. A large class of significant applications can be leveraged by allowing such a robot to follow a diver or some other moving target. The robot uses a suite of sensing technologies, primarily based on computer vision, to allow it to navigate in shallow-water environments. The visual servoing system described here allows the robot to track and follow a given target underwater. The servo package is made up of two distinct parts: a tracker and a feedback controller. The system has been evaluated in the sea water and under natural lighting conditions. The servo system has been tested underwater, and with minor modifications, the system can be used while the robot is walking on the ground as well.