Development of a Biomimetic Underwater Robot for Bottom Inspection of Marine Structures

• Published in: International journal of control, automation, and systems Vol. 21; no. 12; pp. 4041 - 4056
• Main Authors: Song, Seokyong, Kim, Juhwan, Kim, Taesik, Song, Young-woon, Yu, Son-Cheol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucheon / Seoul Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems and The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers 01-12-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attitude stability; Barriers; Biofouling; Biomimetics; Control; Design parameters; Dynamic models; Dynamic stability; Engineering; Feasibility; Mechatronics; Regular Papers; Robot dynamics; Robotics; Underwater inspection; Underwater robots; Underwater structures; Walking; Water tanks; underwater walking; obstacle negotiation; multimodal robot; Biofouling; field robotics; oscillating fin; biomimetics
• ISSN: 1598-6446; 2005-4092
• DOI: 10.1007/s12555-023-0250-9

Underwater inspection of marine structures is important to ensure the safety and integrity of infrastructure; however, stable exploration using conventional underwater robots is limited because of various factors such as biofouling and currents. This study focuses on inspecting the surface under a marine structure. To inspect the surfaces covered with biofouling, a biomimetic underwater robot for inspection of marine structures (BRIM) with swimming, walking, and obstacle-negotiation capabilities was developed. The design parameters for walking on uneven terrain were adjusted, and a gait was developed to push aside obstacles that obstruct the view. Simulations of the dynamic models were implemented and stability measures of walking with various attitudes were computed to verify the proposed method. The feasibility of the robot in real-life scenarios was verified by performing unit and feasibility tests inside a water tank, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed system.