An underwater robot, also known as an unmanned remotely operated vehicle (ROV), is an extreme operational robot that works underwater. Underwater environments are harsh and dangerous, and human diving depths are limited, so underwater robots have become an important tool for developing the oceans.
Structural function of underwater robots
A typical ROV is composed of surface equipment (including manipulation console, cable winch, lifting and lowering equipment, power supply system, etc.) and underwater equipment (including repeater and submersible body). The submersible body moves underwater by thrusters, and the body is equipped with observation equipment (camera, camera, lighting, etc.) and operation equipment (manipulator, cutter, cleaner, etc.).
The underwater movement and operation of the submersible is controlled and monitored by the operator on the surface mothership. It relies on cables to provide power and exchange information to the main body. Repeaters reduce the interference of the cable with the motion of the body. The new submersible evolves from simple remote control to monitoring, i.e., progressive control by the mothership computer and the submersible body computer, which can process the observed information and model the environment and internal state. The operator gives commands in a process-oriented abstract symbol or language through the human-computer interaction system and receives information processed by the computer to monitor and troubleshoot the submersible's operation and action processes. Development of an intelligent underwater robot system begins. The operator only gives the total task, and the robot can automatically plan actions, avoid obstacles, and complete the assigned tasks autonomously based on the identification and analysis of the environment.
The development trend of unmanned cable submersible has the following advantages: first, the water depth is generally at 6,000 meters; second, the manipulation control system mostly uses high-capacity computers to implement processing information and perform digital control; third, the robot on the submersible uses a multifunctional force feedback monitoring system: fourth, the number and power of the thrusters are increased to improve their ability to operate on top of the current and manipulation performance. In addition, special attention is paid to miniaturization of the submersible and improvement of its observation capabilities.
Application areas of underwater robots
1, security search and rescue field: (1) can be used to check whether the dam, bridge piers on the installation of explosives and structural good or bad situation; (2) remote reconnaissance, dangerous goods near the inspection; (3) underwater base array to assist in the installation / disassembly; (4) ship side, ship bottom smuggled goods detection (public security, customs); (5) underwater target observation, ruins, collapsed mine search and rescue, etc.; (6) search for underwater evidence (public security, customs). (7) marine rescue and salvage, offshore search.
2, pipeline inspection: (1) can be used for municipal drinking water system in the water tank, water pipe, reservoir inspection; (2) sewage / drainage pipeline, sewer inspection; (3) foreign oil pipeline inspection; (4) cross-river, cross-river pipeline inspection.
3、Ship river marine oil: (1) ship hull overhaul; underwater anchor, propulsion, ship bottom probing; (2) wharf and wharf pile foundation, bridge, dam underwater part of the inspection; (3) channel drainage, port operations; (4) drilling platform underwater structure overhaul, marine oil engineering.
4、Research and teaching: (1) observation, research and teaching of water environment and underwater organisms; (2) marine expedition; (3) observation under ice.
5、Underwater entertainment: (1) underwater TV filming, underwater photography; (2) diving, boating, yachting; (3) care for divers, the selection of suitable sites before diving.
6、Energy industry: (1) nuclear power plant reactor inspection, pipeline inspection, foreign body detection and removal; (2) hydroelectric power station lock maintenance; (3) hydropower dams, reservoir dam maintenance (sand drainage cavern, barrage, drainage channel maintenance).
7, archaeology: underwater archaeology, underwater shipwreck inspection.
8、Fishery: deep-water net box fishery culture, artificial fishing reef investigation.
Unmanned cableless submersible is still in the research and trial stage, there are still some key technical issues to be solved. Unmanned cableless submersible will develop to remote and intelligent, and its activity range is within the radius of 250-5000 km. This requires that this unmanned cableless submersible has a power source that can guarantee long working hours. In the control and information processing system, image recognition, artificial intelligence technology, a large-capacity knowledge base system, and the ability to improve information processing and precise navigation and positioning of the follow-sense capability are used. If all these problems can be solved, then the unmanned cableless submersible can be a veritable intelligent robot of the ocean. The emergence and widespread use of marine intelligent robots provide a technical guarantee for humans to enter the ocean to engage in various marine industrial activities.
