Wireless teleoperation of HSURF artificial fish in complex paths

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of a multi-platform robotic system called HSURF for underwater teleoperation, enabling remote inspection of complex paths with shared autonomy to mitigate communication delays.

Contribution

It introduces the HSURF multi-platform system and its application to underwater teleoperation with shared autonomy for complex path navigation.

Findings

Successful teleoperation of multiple targets in a testing pool

Shared autonomy reduces effects of communication delays

System effectively navigates complex underwater paths

Abstract

In this paper we show the application of the new robotic multi-platform system HSURF to a specific use case of teleoperation, aimed at monitoring and inspection. The HSURF system, consists of 3 different kinds of platforms: floater, sinker and robotic fishes. The collaborative control of the 3 platforms allows a remotely based operator to control the fish in order to visit and inspect several targets underwater following a complex trajectory. A shared autonomy solution shows to be the most suitable, in order to minimize the effect of limited bandwidth and relevant delay intrinsic to acoustic communications. The control architecture is described and preliminary results of the acoustically teleoperated visits of multiple targets in a testing pool are provided.