I-AUV Mechatronics Integration for the TRIDENT FP7 Project

TLDR

Autonomous underwater vehicles are widely used for ocean surveys, but intervention tasks remain the domain of manned submersibles or ROVs, and recent projects such as the EU FP7 TRIDENT have shown that intervention AUVs can autonomously perform manipulations underwater. This study details the mechatronic components, hardware–software integration, and performance of the I‑AUV developed for the TRIDENT project. The I‑AUV is constructed from integrated mechatronic subsystems that combine hardware and software modules to enable autonomous intervention operations.

Abstract

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are routinely used to survey areas of interest in seas and oceans all over the world. However, those operations requiring intervention capabilities are still reserved to manned submersibles or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). In the recent years, few research projects have demonstrated the viability of a new type of submersible, the intervention AUV (I-AUV), which can perform underwater missions involving manipulations in a completely autonomous way. The EU FP7 TRIDENT project is one of the most recent examples of such technological concept. This paper describes the different mechatronic components that constitute the I-AUV developed for the TRIDENT project, their hardware and software integration, and the performance of the vehicle during the project trials.