Cooperative caging and transport using autonomous aquatic surface vehicles

F. Arrichiello, H. Heidarsson, S. Chiaverini, and G. Sukhatme

Abstract

We present a study on the cooperative control of two autonomous surface vehicles performing a caging and transport mission on the water surface. The two vehicles, connected to each other by means of a floating flexible rope, are required to capture a floating target from a given location, and transport it to a designated position. We focus on the coordination and control strategy to meet these requirements, and on its implementation on two under-actuated vehicles. We describe a multi-layered control architecture which achieves the goal, followed by simulation studies and field experiments with the two vehicles caging and transporting a floating target on the surface of a lake.

Reference

F. Arrichiello, H. Heidarsson, S. Chiaverini, and G. Sukhatme, "Cooperative caging and transport using autonomous aquatic surface vehicles", In Intelligent Service Robotics, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 73-87, Jan 2012.