Benjamin T. Champion

Underwater swarm robotics review

Underwater robotics is a growing field in which more research is required. A literature review has been conducted on underwater robotics, focusing on the swarm problem with this type of robotics to help overcome this gap. Consensus control of robotic swarms is focused on, with a brief description of formation control and how it can be applied in the underwater setting. The basic concepts behind Particle Swarm Optimization, Ant Colony Optimization, Bees Algorithm and Heterogeneous Swarms has also been presented. The problems that are associated with communicating underwater are shown, with some possible solutions to this problem also being presented. Possible future work is described to conclude the paper.

Proposed testbed for the modeling and control of a system of autonomous vehicles

Large scale multi-agent systems are very important in todays world because of their varying uses. The Center for Testing, Evaluation and Control of Heterogeneous Large scale Autonomous Vehicles (TECHLAV) has been tasked to conduct research on Large Scale Autonomous Systems of Vehicles (LSASV). This paper focuses on the proposed testbed system that will help model the large scale system out in the field for Modeling, Analysis and Control tasks for LSASV (MACLAV). The system will use a team of UGVs, UAVs and AUVs to navigate, interact and complete missions through an unknown area as a cohesive unit. A small private cloud provides a computational backbone to the system.

Increased functionality of an underwater robotic manipulator

Research into underwater robotic applications is currently a growing field. There are many challenges involved in underwater robotics that are not present in other mediums, such as how the harsh environmental conditions that this environment invokes onto the robot and any equipment that is attached to the robot. In this paper an attachment to an underwater gripper is proposed that adds another Degree Of Freedom to the system, thus allowing the gripper to move along the belly of the robot. Adding this functionality to the gripper has many advantages, some of which involve the robot being able to easily pass a collected object to another robot with minimal interference. This attachment is constructed using 3D printed parts, a waterproofed servomotor and a leadscrew to provide linear motion to a commercial gripper.

Design and development of a low-cost Autonomous Surface Vehicle

Marine robotics is a rapidly growing field, with applications of both Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) and Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) becoming extensive and within reach for many people. Presented is a low-cost design for an ASV, focusing on the ability for the average person with only little mechanical and electrical skills to assemble. The ASV also incorporates a winch into its design, allowing the ASV to perform many tasks that make it stand out from other ASV systems available in the market, A novel system containing both an ASV and an AUV is introduced, where the designed ASV would be able to work with AUV systems to find and collect underwater objects.

Underwater swarm robotics: Challenges and opportunities

Underwater swarm robotics today faces a series of challenges unique to its aquatic environment. This chapter explores some possible applications of underwater swarm robotics and its challenges. Those challenges include the environment itself, sensor types required, problems with communication and the difficulty in localisation. It notes the serious challenges in underwater communication is that radio communications is practically non-existent in the underwater realm. Localisation also becomes problematic due to the lack of radio waves as GPS cannot be used. It also looks at the platforms required by underwater robots and includes a possible low-cost platform. Also explored is a method of swarm robotics control known as consensus control. It shows possible solutions to the challenges and where swarm robotics may head.

Autonomous mobile robot platform with multi-variant task-specific end-effector and voice activation

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how 3D printing can be used to aid in the construction, design and implementation of an autonomous robot to accomplish a variety of tasks. A robot is designed using Polylactic acid (PLA) that has 3 modes: remote control, autonomous, and voice activation. Using these modes the robot is able to accomplish two specific tasks based on the given end-effector. The two tasks are to open a valve and to pick up an object. In addition analysis on how 3D printing can aid educational use and high risk situations will be presented.

Design and control architecture of a 3D printed modular snake robot

In this paper the design and construction of a 3D printed snake robot is presented. This snake robot has been designed to be able to complete a wide variety of tasks and motions that other snake robots are currently able to preform, such as serpentine motion, rolling and the ability to climb some objects. An approach is also investigated which allows the snake robot to be attached to the end of a serial manipulator robot to increase its available degrees of freedom. A modular design has been focused on, allowing for the fast and low cost generation and implementation of the robotic snake.

3D printed underwater housing

3D printing, or adaptive manufacturing, has become a common tool to use when developing attachments for many different applications. In this paper, the viability of using inexpensive Fused Deposition Modelling 3D printing techniques to develop a housing to hold sensors is explored. The developed housing is not only required to hold the sensors, it also needs to be able to conform within the given predefined mounting points of a commercially acquired robot. The main challenge proposed is the ability for the device to be able to be submerged under the water for extended periods of time while an AUV is completing a variety of tasks.

Underwater Swarm Robotics: Challenges and Opportunities

Underwater swarm robotics today faces a series of challenges unique to its aquatic environment. This chapter explores some possible applications of underwater swarm robotics and its challenges. Those challenges include the environment itself, sensor types required, problems with communication and the difficulty in localisation. it notes the serious challenges in underwater communication is that radio communications is practically non-existent in the underwater realm. Localisation also becomes problematic due to the lack of radio waves as GPS cannot be used. it also looks at the platforms required by underwater robots and includes a possible low-cost platform. Also explored is a method of swarm robotics control known as consensus control. It shows possible solutions to the challenges and where swarm robotics may head.

Tracking animals to determine swarm behavior

A tracking system based of the IMU8420 data logger has been created. This tracking system can be used to store the various movements of different types of animals in-between the GPS signals, leading to a much more accurate representation of what the animal is undergoing at any point in time. This data can then be used to determine the behaviors of the animals, and thus new algorithms can be generated to try and mimic this behavior in robotics. The system could be applied to a swarm of animals to determine what an entire swarm is doing, and thus new swarming algorithms can be created.