@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} } @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 {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 {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} }