The development of an autonomous underwater vehicle “Otohime” with the multiple operation

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) has been developing three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). And one of them is “Otohime”. The aim of this vehicle is the underwater environment research and the seabed mineral resources exploration. One of main missions is to get the detailed seafloor map. So some new technologies were applied to this vehicle in order to achieve such missions. And moreover, the non-conventional operation system was also applied. Although “Otohime” is still in a developmental stage, it is soundly near completion because various tests are repeatedly conducted. In this paper, the outline of “Otohime” including her operation style is explained.