Underwater Robots and Key Technologies for Operation Control

Abstract

Over time, the utilization of the Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System (UVMS) has steadily increased in exploring and harnessing marine resources. However, the underwater environment poses big challenges for controlling, navigating, and communicating with UVMS. These challenges have not only spurred the continuous advancement of related technologies, but also made the development of the UVMS even more captivating. This article firstly provides a review of development status of the UVMS and discusses the current limitations and future directions, and then reviews in detail the dynamic and hydrodynamic modeling methods, and analyzes the principles, advantages, and disadvantages of various approaches. Then, we try to review 2 key technologies of operation control methods, including underwater positioning and navigation technologies and vehicle-manipulator coordinated control approaches. Finally, a reasonable prospect for the future development of UVMS is given.