@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 {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 {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} }