Risk Assessment of an Autonomous Underwater Snake Robot in Confined Operations

TL;DR

This paper presents a Bayesian risk assessment method for an autonomous underwater snake robot, Eely, to improve its performance and mission success in complex, confined environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Bayesian approach to evaluate and mitigate risks of Eely's loss during underwater missions in unstructured environments.

Findings

Sensitivity analysis identifies key factors impacting risk levels.

The approach enhances understanding of operational risks for underwater robots.

Results support improved mission planning and robot design.

Abstract

The growing interest in ocean discovery imposes a need for inspection and intervention in confined and demanding environments. Eely's slender shape, in addition to its ability to change its body configurations, makes articulated underwater robots an adequate option for such environments. However, operation of Eely in such environments imposes demanding requirements on the system, as it must deal with uncertain and unstructured environments, extreme environmental conditions, and reduced navigational capabilities. This paper proposes a Bayesian approach to assess the risks of losing Eely during two mission scenarios. The goal of this work is to improve Eely's performance and the likelihood of mission success. Sensitivity analysis results are presented in order to demonstrate the causes having the highest impact on losing Eely.