The issue of making available efficient, versatile and cost effective solutions for exploring, monitoring and exploiting the marine environment is a challenge that can be tackled by developing integrated robotic platforms, where autonomous surface vehicles (ASV) cooperates with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV). A robotic structure of that kind is considered in this work, which continues the activity of the authors and co-workers. The robotic platform consists of a small ASV that can serve as supply vessel for a micro-UUV, which is remotely guided by a pilot from a shore-ground station. The present work focuses on the integration of the UUV component in the overall structure and in the development of the its remote guidance system. Mechatronic, control and communication problems encountered in implementing this solution are described and the results of functional tests are illustrated. A simple and efficient robotic structure that can be managed by a single operator for exploration and light intervention in relatively shallow water (up to a depth of about 50m) is finally assembled and made ready for field test in an harbor basin in the next months.
Marine underwater and coastal environments are extremely complex systems, characterized by strong links between their physical and chemical processes and biological population. The preservation of the underwater habitats provides benefits to the whole society and it constitutes a basic need for mankind. In recent years, the realization of user-friendly technologies and tools for carrying out efficiently activities like exploration and intervention in the marine environment has seen an increasingly interest by the scientific community. As a result, in the last decade there has been a development in the area of unmanned underwater vehicles, of their guidance and control systems and of the related sensory systems (see e.g. (Griffiths, 2003), (Kinsey et al., 2006), (Cohan, 2008), (Omerdic et al., 2008) and the references therein). Surveys and data gathering in delicate biological marine environments and in archaeological sites, represent typical applications in which for unmanned underwater vehicles play a fundamental role (see e.g. (Scaradozzi et al., 2009; 2013; 2014), (Zapata-Ramirez et al., 2016)). The choice among different technologies depends on the objectives of the mission, the characteristics of the environment and the global amount of resources. In many applications, remotely operated vehicles (ROV) are preferred with respect to autonomous vehicles, since their use guarantees teleoperation on the mission scenario. This kind of vehicles help scientists to survey submerged sites at great depths and to cover large areas of exploration without the risks encountered in using divers or manned submersible vehicles. Furthermore, ROVs are quite simply to use and some devices have been developed to let unexperienced pilots guide them easily (see (Scaradozzi et al., 2012), (Conte et al., 2012b), (Sorbi et al., 2015). What the marine community is lacking is a solution to leverage efficiency of supply vessels in terms of costs and logistic difficulties.
