CAREER: Cooperating Underwater Robots: Theory and Practice

尽管水下存在严重的通信带宽限制，但合作的水下机器人必须协调它们的行动。这项拟议的研究通过开发理论上合理的分散控制律来解决水下机器人的协调问题，这些控制律使一排自主水下机器人能够在需要最少通信的情况下合作实现共同目标。完全现实的实地试验是我们分析活动的重要辅助工具。在与生物学家和海洋科学家的合作中，将在一个大型沿海河口部署一排排小型、廉价的自主水下机器人，以快速和自适应地绘制生物活性化学物质图。教育和外联将与拟议的研究相结合，方法是开发一门关于水下机器人动力学和控制的新课程，并与麻省理工学院和国际无人驾驶车辆系统协会的同事合作，为中学生和高中生创建一项新的自主水下机器人竞赛。拟议研究的智力价值包括开发一个改进的分布式控制律工具箱，以及更好地理解非结构化真实世界环境中自动驾驶车辆排的通信要求。这项研究工作的更广泛影响包括：开发负担得起的技术，使海洋和海洋科学家能够进行其他方式不可能进行的科学调查；开发水下机器人课程、课程材料和实验室项目；以及创建一个中学生和高中生都可以接触到的自主水下机器人竞赛。

Cooperating underwater robots must coordinate their actions despite severe communication bandwidth limits that exist underwater. This proposed research addresses the coordination of underwater robots through the development of theoretically justified decentralized control laws that enable a platoon of autonomous underwater vehicles to cooperatively achieve a common goal while requiring minimal communication. Fully realistic field trials are a crucial adjunct to our analytic activities. In a collaborative effort with biologists and marine scientists, platoons of small, inexpensive, autonomous underwater vehicles will be deployed in a large coastal estuary to rapidly and adaptively map bio-active chemicals. Education and outreach will be integrated with the proposed research through both the development of a new course on the dynamics and control of underwater robots, and the creation of a new autonomous underwater vehicle contest for middle school and high school students in collaboration with colleagues at MIT and the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. The intellectual merits of the proposed research include the development of an improved toolbox of distributed control laws and an improved understanding of communication requirements for platoons of autonomous vehicles in unstructured, real-world environments. The broader impacts of this research effort include: the development of affordable technology that will enable ocean and marine scientists to conduct scientific investigations that are not otherwise possible; the development of curriculum, course materials, and laboratory projects for underwater robotics; and the creation of an autonomous underwater vehicle contest that is accessible to middle school and high school students.