IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018 - 99

vehicle is ready to execute and successive-
ly to send the decision command. The
lower-level control commands are pro-
vided by a preprogrammed onboard sub-
system, and the virtual reality model in
the local zone uses only the symbolic
information received through the low-
bandwidth channel to reproduce the
actual behavior of the system.
It is worthwhile to note that the coor-
dinated motion control of the vehicle
and its manipulator must be considered
for efficient manipulation since the base
of the manipulator is the vehicle's main
body and floats. Various hydrodynamic
effects on the motion are also present,
and most underwater manipulators are
oil-filled for pressure compensation.
RAM: Have you noticed a technological
shift, either in terms of computational
power and/or available hardware? How
would that change your design
approach?
Yuh: Yes, we have noticed a techno-
logical shift and advancement in vari-
ous sectors such as computational
power, actuators, sensors, and data net-
works along with new materials. This
allows one to now build systems with
designs that are much more compact
and robust. This is important because
underwater vehicle systems require
buoyancy materials that perform at a
range of depths with low power con-
sumption while providing maximum
lift. In general, the heavier the underwa-
ter vehicle system, the more buoyancy
materials are needed, which, in turn,
increases the overall weight.
RAM: In your opinion, what are the
main challenges current researchers are
addressing? What would you consider
as a state-of-the-art autonomous mani-
pulation scenario?
Yuh: As mentioned earlier, there are
various challenging issues for underwa-
ter manipulation due to the harsh envi-
ronment. Another challenge is working
with operating limitations in the field.
Most underwater manipulators are
remotely operated by human operators.
The operators must complete a lengthy
training course, and yet the actual oper-
ation in the field is very difficult,

leading to operator fatigue. Therefore,
continued research toward developing
fully autonomous mobile manipulation
is desirable.
A common scenario for a generic
autonomous manipulation intervention
in water is a situation where the vehicle
is stationary while the arm performs
the required task. In this configuration,
the vehicle's position and orientation
are maintained with the aid of several
different sensors, which may have con-
siderable measurement noise as well as
different accuracy measurements. For
example, a long baseline system (or
similar sensors) is often used to mea-
sure the position in x, y, and z (or alti-
tude) in Earth-fixed coordinates, and
its output has an accuracy of about 1 m.
However, z-position can also be mea-
sured by a depth sensor that gives a
much more accurate output. Orienta-
tion in x, y, and z (vehicle coordinates)
are measured by an attitude and head-
ing reference sensor. Since all sensors
experience a certain level of random
noise in their measurements, the abso-
lute position and orientation measure-
ments of the vehicle, especially in x and
y, have an insufficient accuracy for a
precision manipulation task. However,
as long as the error in the measurement
of the vehicle position/orientation is
confined within the magnitude of the
arm workspace, the manipulator can
compensate for this inaccuracy using
the precise measurement given by the
target position sensor.

one single company manufacturing
underwater manipulators is dominating
the market. Most commercial underwater
manipulators are
remotely oper-
The coordinated
ated and not
motion control of
equipped with
advanced fea-
the vehicle and its
tures like visual
manipulator must
servoing, which
can be found
be considered
with many in-
for efficient
dustrial manipu-
lators. On the
manipulation.
other hand, re-
searchers in the
area of underwater robotics have achieved
substantial progress in developing ad-
vanced underwater vehicles and manipula-
tor systems, and some of them are used
for scientific applications. Some exem-
plary research programs in advanced
underwater manipulators include the
SAUVIM project in the United States,
the TRIDENT project in Europe, and
the UCRC project in Korea.

What + If = IEEE

RAM: Many international research
projects are focusing more and more on
floating manipulation. When will those
results be transferred to the industry?
Yuh: We have seen advances in
industrial manipulators in terms of
hardware, software, and design along
with innovative concepts such as cobots,
modular design, and cloud robotics.
However, offshore industry, where
underwater manipulators are used most,
is very conservative, accepting only
proven technologies or systems with
strong track records since even minor
errors or failure could result in disas-
trous situations due to the nature of the
industry. This is one of the reasons why
december 2018

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IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018

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