HSURF: A New Modular Platform for Underwater Remote Semi-Autonomous Facilities Inspection

Abstract

Abstract In this paper we present the H-SURF modular system, consisting of three different platforms (floater, sinker and fish), that can be used for underwater wireless telecontrolled inspection. Differently from the most common commercial approaches where tethered big ROVs are used for subsea inspection, here many small untethered semiautonomous robots are used, oriented to a robotic swarm concept. The full system allows teleoperation from a remote base station and inspection of complex subsea structures consisting of several tubes and valves, taking benefit of the collaboration among different platforms and many small and flexible robots. We show the testing results of telecontroled navigation in a very complex trajectory and a semiautonomous detailed inspection of a submersed vertical structure.