Underwater Robotics

Citation

(1999), "Underwater Robotics", Sensor Review, Vol. 19 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1999.08719cae.001

Underwater Robotics

Underwater Robotics

J. Yuh, T. Ura and G.A. BekeyKluwer Academic Press1996ISBN 0-7923-9754-1£92.50

Keywords Robotics, Underwater

Underwater Robotics is a collection of 13 papers which highlight some of the latest developments and technical problems in this field of research. The papers presented in this book are grouped in four categories and have also been published in a Special Issue of the Journal of Autonomous Robots.

The four categories are: new techniques or algorithms which are useful for underwater robot vehicle motion planning; control systems for advanced underwater robotic vehicles; modelling and control issues related to the underwater robotic vehicle having a manipulator; and prototype testbeds for research and development of advanced underwater robotic technologies.

Four papers are presented in the first category and they are: "Case-based path planning for autonomous underwater vehicles", "A terrain-covering algorithm for an autonomous underwater vehicle", "Three- dimensional stochastic modelling using sonar sensing for underseas Robotics" and "Seafloor map generation for autonomous underwater vehicle navigation".

Papers covering advanced control systems for underwater robotic vehicles are "Autonomous underwater vehicles: hybrid control of mission and motion", "Experimental study on a learning control system with bound estimation for underwater robotics" and "Experimental comparison of PID vs PID plus non-linear controller for subsea robots".

The third category consists of "Experiments in the co-ordinated control of an underwater arm/vehicle system", "Motion planning and contact control for a tele-assisted hydraulic underwater robot", "A computational famework for simulation of underwater robotic vehicle systems", and "A dynamic model of an underwater vehicle with a robotic manipulator using Kane's method".

"Development of an Autonomous Underwater Robot 'twin-burger' for testing intelligent behaviours in realistic environments" and "OTTER: the design and development of an intelligent underwater robot" make up the final category.

This is a valuable reference book for anyone interested in, or researching into, Underwater Robotics. The papers are all well written and do not use excessive amounts of technical jargon, thus being accessible to the reader with a firm understanding of control engineering and mathematics.