Abstract
An autonomous underwater robot named “Twin-Burger” was developed as a versatile test bed to establish the techniques which realize intelligent robot behaviors. The robot was designed to have necessary functions for complex tasks including cooperative task execution with other robots and divers. The first robot “Twin-Burger I” was completed and launched in November 1992. This paper describes hardware and software systems of the robot. Motion of the robot is controlled by sliding controllers based on simplified equations of motion which are derived from system identification experiments. Tank tests proved that the robot was able to cruise along a commanded path as a sequence of control actions generated by the sliding controllers. The Distributed Vehicle Management Architecture (DVMA) is applied to the robot as an architecture for the control software. Mission execution experiments shows that the Twin-Burger behaves appropriately according to the mission and environmental conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Balasuriya, B.A.A.P., Fujii, T., and Ura, T. 1994. Vision-based command communication for underwater robots. Seisan-Kenkyu, 46(9):453–456.
Bellingham, J., Consi, T., and Beaton, R. 1990. Keeping layered control simple. In Proc. AUV'90, Washington DC, pp. 3–9.
Chappell, S.G. 1987. A blackboard based system for context sensitive mission planning in an autonomous vehicle. In Proc. UUST'87, New Hampshire, NH, pp. 467–476.
Choi, S.K., Yuh, J., and Takashige, G.Y. 1995. Development of the omni-directional intelligent navigator. In IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2(1):44–53.
Fujii, T. 1993. Study on Intelligent Behaviors of Underwater Robotic Vehicles. Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Tokyo.
Fujii, T. and Ura, T. 1990. Development of motion control system for AUV using neural nets. In Proc. AUV'90, Washington DC, pp. 81–86.
Fujii, T. and Ura, T. 1991. SONCS: Self-organizing neural-net-controller system for autonomous underwater robots. In Proc. IEEE/INNS IJCNN'91, Singapore, pp. 1973–1982.
Fujii, T., Ura, T., Kuroda, Y., Nose, Y., and Chiba, H. 1992. Multi-sensor based AUV with distributed vehicle management architecture. In Proc. AUV'92, Washington DC, pp. 73–78.
Healey, A.J. and Marco, D.B. 1992. Experimental verification of mission planning by autonomous mission execution and data visualization using the NPS AUVII. In Proc. AUV'92, Washington DC, pp. 65–72.
INMOS Limited 1989. The Transputer Databook, second edition.
Loch, J., Waller, E., Bellingham, J.G., Beaton, R., and Triantafyllou, M. 1989. Software development of the autonomous submersible program at MIT sea grant and draper laboratory. In Proc. UUST'89, New Hampshire, NH, pp. 25–32.
Minsky, M. 1986. The Society of Mind, Simon & Shuster.
NOAA, 1979. NOAA Diving Manual, Second Edition, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Perrier, M., Rigaud, V., Peuch, A., Costa-Maniere, E., and Simon, D. 1993. In Proc. UUST'93, New Hampshire, NH, pp. 29–36.
Ura, T. 1989. Free swimming vehicle ‘PTEROA’ for deep sea survey. In Proc. ROV'89, San Diego, CA, pp. 263–268.
Yoerger, D.R. and Slotine, J.-J.E. 1985. Robust trajectory control of underwater vehicles. In IEEE J. Oceanic Engg., OE-10(4):462–470.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fujii, T., Ura, T. Development of an autonomous underwater robot “Twin-Burger” for testing intelligent behaviors in realistic environments. Auton Robot 3, 285–296 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00141160
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00141160