MRI: Development of an Innovative Underwater Robot Testing Facility for the Kilo Nalu Natural Coastal Marine Observatory

这一重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持在自然海岸环境中开发最先进的水下机器人测试仪器。机器人系统通常是在实验室环境中开发的，在那里复杂的因素可以被控制或完全消除。当这些机器人最终在现实世界中使用时，必须对它们进行优化，以与这些不可预测的复杂情况进行交互。对于海洋机器人来说尤其如此，它们受到海洋环境中海浪和海流的严重影响。该仪器将允许设计者准确跟踪和保持与水下机器人的通信，同时他们在真实环境中解决性能问题。在O‘ahu海岸外的Kilo Nalu天文台拥有这样一台仪器供公众学术使用将加快海洋机器人的研究。更有能力的海洋机器人将反过来改进海洋和气候建模，使早期预警系统能够提供更多信息，并增强沿海和岛屿社区的复原力。这个机器人测试池也将作为一个自然的教室，向学生传授水下机器人操作和任务规划以及一般的机器人基础知识。这一教育目标对夏威夷大学这一为少数群体服务的机构尤其重要，从而为STEM领域中代表不足的多个群体提供教育和培训机会。通过该合同建立的设施旨在为实验室可行性研究和海洋机器人的全面海洋实施提供必要的中介环境。Kilo Nalu天文台是瓦胡岛海岸外的一个永久性有线天文台，为以模块化方式安装的多个海洋传感器提供持续电力和高速数据传输。机器人测试仪将建立在这个基础设施上。所要求的硬件包括一套水声调制解调器、一个高精度的水声定位系统和一个可扩展的通用自主水下机器人，作为移动机器人的测试和训练平台。与现有的硬件一起，自然实验室将具有水下通信、跟踪、对接和充电能力，以便对新型车辆子系统、导航和控制算法、协作控制方法进行复杂的现场测试和培训，并将作为常驻水下机器人的总部。该设施将利用夏威夷大学现有的水下观测站基础设施，以减少部署、操作和维护所需的时间和成本。该项目由土木、机械和制造创新部门(CMMI)、主要仪器研究计划(MRI)和国家机器人倡议(NRI)联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the development of a state-of-the-art underwater robotics testing instrument in a natural coastal environment. Robotic systems are often developed in laboratory settings, where complicating factors can be controlled or removed entirely. When those robots are eventually utilized in a real-world setting, they must be optimized to interact with those unpredictable complications. This is especially true for marine robots which are heavily influenced by waves and currents in the ocean environment. This instrument will allow designers to accurately track and maintain communication with underwater robots while they troubleshoot performance issues in authentic surroundings. Having such an instrument available for public academic use at the Kilo Nalu Observatory off the coast of O’ahu will accelerate marine robot research. More capable marine robots will in turn lead to improvements in oceanographic and climate modeling, enable more informative early warning systems, and enhance the resilience of coastal and island communities. This robotic test basin will also serve as a natural classroom, teaching students both about underwater vehicle operations and mission planning and about the fundamentals of robotics in general. This educational objective is especially important to the University of Hawai’i, a minority serving institution, thus providing education and training opportunities to multiple underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The facility being created through this award is intended to provide a necessary intermediary environment between laboratory feasibility studies and full-scale oceanic implementation of marine robots. The Kilo Nalu Observatory is a permanent cabled observatory off the coast of Oahu that provides persistent power and high-speed data transfer to a number of oceanographic sensors installed in a modular fashion. The robot testing instrument will be built on this infrastructure. The requested hardware includes a set of acoustic modems, a high-accuracy acoustic localization system, and an expandable general-purpose autonomous underwater vehicle, to serve as a mobile robot testing and training platform. Together with the existing hardware, the natural laboratory will have underwater communication, tracking, docking, and charging capabilities in order to perform sophisticated field testing and training of novel vehicle subsystems, navigation and control algorithms, cooperative control methodologies, and will serve as a home base for resident underwater robots. The facility will leverage the existing University of Hawai’i underwater observatory infrastructure to reduce the time and costs required for deployment, operation, and maintenance.This project is jointly funded by the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), the Major Instrumentation Research Program (MRI), and the National Robotics Initiative (NRI).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.