Study on Autonomous Hovering of the Spherical Underwater Robot Based on Fuzzy PD Controller

Abstract

To make the movement of the spherical underwater robot more stable and easier to control, it is necessary to design a controller that can hover autonomously. According to the dynamic equation, we solved the transfer function of the spherical underwater robot in the dive process. Next, we designed the fuzzy PD controller which was easy to control, nonlinear and automatically adjustable. We used Simulink to build the hover motion simulation model for the spherical underwater robot, including using fuzzy PD controller and without fuzzy PD controller, and we carried out the comparative experiments of two simulation models. Then we applied the fuzzy PD controller to the hover motion of the spherical underwater robot, and carried out hover motion experiments. The experimental results showed that the fuzzy PD controller had better performance, and improved the stability of hover motion of the spherical underwater robot.