Design and development of a remotely operated underwater multi-robot manipulator controller

Summary form only given. For the scientific and commercial utilization of Ocean resources, the role of intelligent underwater robotic systems are of great importance. Scientific activities like marine bio-technology, hydrographic mapping, and commercial applications like marine mining, ocean energy, fishing; aquaculture, cable laying and pipe lining are a few utilization of ocean resources. As most of the deep undersea exploration are beyond the reachability of divers and also as the use of operator controlled and teleoperated remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and diver transport vehicles (DTVs) turn out to be highly inefficient, it is essential to have a fully automated system capable of providing stable control and communication links for the unstructured undersea environment. Moreover, to communicate with submerged vessels, ROVs, DTVs, etc. in sectors, where it is impossible to deploy cables or buoys, it is essential to have a wireless underwater communication set-up. The design and development of a remotely operated and untethered multi-robot manipulator controller capable of tracking and updating all global information on the status of manipulator arms mounted on a single or multiple ROVs are described.