To Örebro University

Underwater robots are being developed for various applications ranging from inspection to maintenance and cleaning of submerged surfaces and constructions. These platforms should be able to travel on these surfaces. Furthermore, these platforms should adapt and reconfigure for underwater environment conditions and should be autonomous. Regarding the adhesion to the surface, they should produce a proper attaching force using a light-weight technics. Taking these facts into consideration, this paper presents a survey of different technologies used for underwater cleaning and the available underwater robotics solutions for the locomotion and the adhesion to surfaces.

This paper introduces a new concept of flexible crawling mechanism to design an industrial underwater cleaning robot, which is evaluated from the viewpoint of the capability to work underwater, scanning the desired surface, and bearing the reactions. This can be used as a robotic application in underwater surface cleaning and maintenance. We designed a robot that realizes the motion by contraction and extraction using DC-motors and vacuum technology. In this study we first focused on realizing the adhesion, bearing reactions, and achieving a stable locomotion on the surface.

This paper introduces a new concept of flexible crawling mechanism in the design ofindustrial in-water cleaning robot, which is evaluated from the viewpoint of work and operationon an underwater surface. It enables the scanning and cleaning process performed by water jets,while keeping stable robot position on the surface by its capacity to bear and compensate the jetreactions. Such robotic platform can be used for cleaning and maintenance of various underwatersurfaces, including moving ships in the open sea. The designed robot implements its motions bycontraction and expansion of legged mechanism using standard motors and suction cupstechnology. In this study we focus at the conditions for achieving enough adhesion for keepingcontinuous contact between the robot and the surface and robot stability in different situations forthe basic locomotions.

This paper introduces a study of a concept of exible crawling mechanism todesign an industrial underwater cleaning robot, which is evaluated from theviewpoint of the capability to work underwater, scanning the desired surface,and bearing the reactions. This can be used as a robotic application in under-water surface cleaning and maintenance. In this study we focused on realizingthe adhesion on the surface in stationary and in motion, bearing reactions,enabling the needed locomotion types for scanning, and achieving the stabilityin dierent situations on the surface.

This paper presents the mechanical design and the control system architecture of anunderwater robot, developed for bio-fouling cleaning surfaces. The robotic system presented herehas been designed to improve the productivity, reduce the environmental impacts, and excludethe hazards for the operators. The control system has a layered structure which is distributed intotwo blocks: cleaning robot, and on-board base station connected with power and control cablesand a water hose, to facilitate different modes of operations and to increase the system reliability.A low level control has been implemented on the robotic platform. The onboard station designedto be in different layers of the control system: manual, semiautonomous and autonomous modes.A scaled prototype has been implemented and tested to prove the concept, and to make certainthat the mechanical design and the chosen control system are perfectly suited to the mainfunctions of the robotic system.