@conference {282, title = {Increasing underwater manipulation autonomy using segmentation and visual tracking}, booktitle = {OCEANS 2017 - Aberdeen}, year = {2017}, month = {10/2017}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Aberdeen (UK)}, abstract = {

The present research in underwater robotics aims to increase the autonomy of manipulation operations in fields such as archaeology or biology, that cannot afford costly underwater interventions using traditional Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV). This paper describes a work towards the long term goal of autonomous underwater manipulation. Autonomous grasping, with limited sensors and water conditions which affect the robot systems, is a growing skill in underwater scenarios. Here we present a framework that uses vision, segmentation, user interfaces and grasp planning to perform visually guided manipulation to improve the specification of grasping operations. With it, a user commands and supervises the robot to recover cylinder shaped objects, a very common restriction in archaeological scenarios. This framework, though, can be expanded to detect other kind of objects. Information of the environment is gathered with stereo cameras and laser reconstruction methods to obtain a model of the object\&$\#$39;s graspable area. A RANSAC segmentation algorithm is used to estimate the model parameters and the best grasp is presented to the user in an intuitive user interface. The grasp is then executed by the robot. This approach has been tested in simulation and in water tank conditions.

}, keywords = {archaeological scenarios, archaeology, autonomous grasping, autonomous underwater manipulation, Cameras, Computational modeling, cylinder shaped objects, grasping operations, image reconstruction, image segmentation, intuitive user interface, manipulation operations, manipulators, mobile robots, RANSAC segmentation algorithm, Remote Operated Vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, robot systems, robot vision, Robots, ROV, stereo image processing, Storage tanks, Three-dimensional displays, underwater interventions, underwater manipulation autonomy, underwater robotics, underwater scenarios, underwater vehicles, user interfaces, visual tracking, Visualization, visually guided manipulation, water conditions, water tank conditions}, isbn = {978-1-5090-5278-3 }, doi = {10.1109/OCEANSE.2017.8084762}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/OCEANSE.2017.8084762}, author = {Fornas, David and Sanz, Pedro J. and M. Vincze} } @article {271, title = {I-AUV Docking and Panel Intervention at Sea}, journal = {Sensors}, volume = {16}, year = {2016}, month = {12 October 2016}, type = {Open Access}, abstract = {

The use of commercially available autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has increased during the last fifteen years. While they are mainly used for routine survey missions, there is a set of applications that nowadays can be only addressed by manned submersibles or work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) equipped with teleoperated arms: the intervention applications. To allow these heavy vehicles controlled by human operators to perform intervention tasks, underwater structures like observatory facilities, subsea panels or oil-well Christmas trees have been adapted, making them more robust and easier to operate. The TRITON Spanish founded project proposes the use of a light-weight intervention AUV (I-AUV) to carry out intervention applications simplifying the adaptation of these underwater structures and drastically reducing the operational cost. To prove this concept, the Girona 500 I-AUV is used to autonomously dock into an adapted subsea panel and once docked perform an intervention composed of turning a valve and plugging in/unplugging a connector. The techniques used for the autonomous docking and manipulation as well as the design of an adapted subsea panel with a funnel-based docking system are presented in this article together with the results achieved in a water tank and at sea.

}, keywords = {autonomous underwater vehicles, field robotics, manipulation, Underwater Intervention}, doi = {10.3390/s16101673}, url = {http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/10/1673/html}, author = {Palomeras, Narc{\'\i}s and Pe{\~n}alver, Antonio and Massot-Campos, Miquel and Negre, Pep Llu{\'\i}s and Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} Javier and Ridao, Pere and Sanz, Pedro J. and Oliver, Gabriel} } @conference {270, title = {Improving local symmetry estimations in rgb-d images by fiting superquadrics}, booktitle = {XXXVII Jornadas de Autom{\'a}tica}, year = {2016}, month = {09/2016}, address = {Madrid (Spain)}, isbn = { 978-84-617-4298-1}, author = {Fornas, David and Sanz, Pedro J. and Porta, Josep M. and THomas, Federico} } @article {217, title = {I-AUV Mechatronics Integration for the TRIDENT FP7 Project}, journal = {IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics}, volume = {PP}, year = {2015}, month = {02/2015 }, chapter = {1-10}, 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.

}, keywords = {Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), intervention, underwater robotics}, issn = {1083-4435 }, doi = {10.1109/TMECH.2015.2395413}, author = {Ribas, David and Ridao, Pere and A. Turetta and Melchiorri, C. and Palli, G and Fern{\'a}dez, Joseph and Sanz, Pedro J.} } @article {292, title = {Image compression with region of interest for underwater robotic archaeological applications}, journal = {XXXVI Jornadas de Autom{\'a}tica. Bilbao, Spain Google Scholar}, year = {2015}, author = {Rubino, Eduardo M. and Centelles, Diego and Sales, Jorge and Mart{\'\i}, Jos{\'e} V. and Mar{\'\i}n, Ra{\'u}l and Sanz, Pedro J.} } @article {218, title = {Intervention AUVs: The Next Challenge}, journal = {Annual Reviews in Control}, volume = {40}, year = {2015}, month = {11/2015}, chapter = {227-241}, address = {Cape Town, South Africa}, abstract = {

While commercially available AUVs are routinely used in survey missions, a new set of applications exist which clearly demand intervention capabilities. The maintenance of permanent underwater observatories, submerged oil wells, cabled sensor networks, pipes and the deployment and recovery of benthic stations are a few of them. These tasks are addressed nowadays using manned submersibles or work-class ROVs, equipped with teleoperated arms under human supervision. Although researchers have recently opened the door to future I-AUVs, a long path is still necessary to achieve autonomous underwater interventions. This paper reviews the evolution timeline in autonomous underwater intervention systems. Milestone projects in the state of the art are reviewed, highlighting their principal contributions to the field. To the best of the authors\&$\#$39; knowledge, only three vehicles have demonstrated some autonomous intervention capabilities so far: ALIVE, SAUVIM and GIRONA 500, being the last one the lightest one. In this paper GIRONA 500 I-AUV is presented and its software architecture discussed. Recent results in different scenarios are reported: (1) valve turning and connector plugging/unplugging while docked to a subsea panel, (2) free floating valve turning using learning by demonstration, and (3) multipurpose free-floating object recovery. The paper ends discussing the lessons learned so far.

}, doi = {10.1016/j.arcontrol.2015.09.015}, author = {Ridao, Pere and Carreras, Marc and Ribas, David and Sanz, Pedro J. and Oliver, Gabriel} } @conference {197, title = {I-AUV Docking and Intervention in a Subsea Panel}, booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)}, year = {2014}, month = {09/2014}, address = {Chicago, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4799-6933-3}, author = {Palomeras, Narc{\'\i}s and Pe{\~n}alver, Antonio and Massot-Campos, Miquel and Villacrosa, Guillem and Negre, Pep Llu{\'\i}s and Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} Javier and Ridao, Pere and Sanz, Pedro J. and Oliver, Gabriel and Palomer, Albert} } @conference {186, title = {Improving autonomous underwater grasp specification using primitive shape fitting in point clouds}, booktitle = {Seventeenth International Conference of the Catalan Association of Artificial Intelligence (CCIA 2014)}, year = {2014}, month = {10/2014}, publisher = {IOS Press (Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications)}, organization = {IOS Press (Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications)}, address = {Barcelona (Spain)}, abstract = {
This paper presents a research in progress towards autonomous under-
water robot manipulation. Current research in underwater robotics intends to increase the autonomy of intervention operations that require physical interaction.\ Autonomous grasping is still a very challenging skill, especially in underwater environments, with highly unstructured scenarios, limited availability of sensors and\ adverse conditions that affect the robot perception and control systems in various\ degrees. To tackle those issues, we propose the use of vision and segmentation\ techniques that aim to improve the specification of grasping operations on underwater primitive shaped objects. Several sources of stereo information are used to\ gather 3D information in order to obtain a model of the object. Using a RANSAC\ primitive shape recognition algorithm, the model parameters are estimated and a\ set of feasible grasps are computed. This approach is validated in simulation and\ the quality of different 3D reconstructions from both real and virtual scenarios is\ analyzed.
}, keywords = {grasp specification, point cloud, RANSAC, shape fitting, underwater autonomous grasping, UWSim underwater realistic simulator}, isbn = {978-1-61499-451-0 (print) | 978-1-61499-452-7 (online)}, doi = {10.3233/978-1-61499-452-7-45}, author = {Fornas, David and Sales, J. and Pe{\~n}alver, Antonio and Javier P{\'e}rez and Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} Javier and Sanz, Pedro J.} } @conference {173, title = {Increasing the Autonomy Levels for Underwater Intervention Missions by Using Learning and Probabilistic Techniques}, booktitle = {ROBOT2013: First Iberian Robotics Conference}, year = {2013}, month = {11/2013}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, organization = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Madrid, Spain}, isbn = {978-3-319-03412-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-03413-3_2}, author = {Sales, Jorge and Santos, Luis and Sanz, Pedro J. and Dias, Jorge and Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Carlos} } @conference {78, title = {An integration perspective of the TRIDENT project}, booktitle = {5th International Conference on Cognitive Systems}, year = {2012}, month = {02/2012}, address = {Vienna (Austria)}, author = {Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Carlos and Prats, Mario and Sanz, Pedro J. and Ribas, David and Ridao, Pere and Wirth, Stephan and Oliver, Gabriel} } @conference {garcia10, title = {Increasing Autonomy within Underwater Intervention Scenarios: The User Interface Approach}, booktitle = {2010 IEEE International Systems Conference}, year = {2010}, month = {4}, pages = {71{\textendash}75}, address = {San Diego, CA, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4244-5883-7}, author = {Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Carlos and Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} Javier and Sanz, Pedro J. and Mar{\'\i}n, Ra{\'u}l} } @conference {66, title = {Incrementando el nivel de Autonom{\'\i}a en los Sistemas Rob{\'o}?ticos de Intervenci{\'o}n Submarina: punto de vista de la Interfaz de Usuario}, booktitle = {XXXI Jornadas de Autom{\'a}tica (CEA)}, year = {2010}, month = {09/2010}, address = {Ja{\'e}n (Spain)}, keywords = {autonomous underwater vehicle for intervention, graphical user interface, multimodal interface, simulator}, isbn = {978-84-693-0715-1}, author = {Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Carlos and Prats, Mario and Sanz, Pedro J. and Mar{\'\i}n, Ra{\'u}l} } @conference {115, title = {Improving manipulation capabilities by means of Radio Frequency Identification and Computer Vision}, booktitle = {11th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile}, year = {2008}, month = {09/2008}, address = {Coimbra (Portugal)}, abstract = {

The present work shows recent results in the robotic manipulation context, after suitable integration between computer vision and radio frequency identification (RFID). The experimental validation has been carried out in a household environment, by using current manufactured objects, labeled previously, and processed through a RFID reader situated in the robot hand. A camera-in-hand also was used for segmentation and localization of the corresponding objects. The main problems solved in this work are those related with hardware integration between the robot and the RFID system, including the RFID reader, antenna and necessary interfaces. Furthermore, a graphical user interface was developed for displaying the results from visual processing, including both, segmentation and localization of the objects in the scene, visualizing at the same time the corresponding RFID labels associated which each previously identified object. These preliminary results have demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of this system to succeed with localization, identification and handling of daily objects, without predefined models at all, in household environments.


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}, isbn = {978-981-283-576-5}, author = {Sales, Jorge and Gracia, X. and Sanz, Pedro J. and Mar{\'\i}n, Ra{\'u}l and Mar{\'\i}n, Ra{\'u}l and Falomir, Zoe} }