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Return to Antikythera: Multi-session SLAM Based AUV Mapping of a First Century B.C. Wreck Site

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Book cover Field and Service Robotics

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 113))

Abstract

This paper describes an expedition to map a first century B.C. ship wreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a high-resolution stereo imaging system. The wreck, first discovered in 1900, has yielded a wealth of important historical artefacts from two previous interventions, including the renowned Antikythera mechanism. The deployments described in this paper aimed to map the current state of the wreck site prior to further excavation. Over the course of 10 days of operation, the AUV completed multiple dives over the main wreck site and other nearby targets of interest. This paper describes the motivation for returning to the wreck and producing a detailed map, gives an overview of the techniques used for multi-session Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) to stitch data from two dives into a single, composite map of the site and presents preliminary results of the mapping exercise.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, the ARGO Civil Non-Profit Company for Scientific Research and Training, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, Hublot S.A., Swordspoint Foundation, Jane and James Orr, Jr., OTE-Cosmote, Domestic Property Committee of Kythera and Antikythera, Costa Navarino, Family of Michael Dubno and Loren Blackford, Laetitia and Richard Garriott de Cayeux. Dr. Pizarro and Prof. Williams are supported by the Australian Research Council. Thanks to EdgeTech for providing the gridded multibeam maps used to plan the AUV dives. The authors would like to thank the captain and crew of MV Glaros used to facilitate the deployment and recovery of the vehicle and the RV Poseidon who were instrumental in tracking the AUV during dives. Thanks also to Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities Director Dr. Aggeliki Simosi and EUA field director Dr. Theotokis Theodoulou, Alexandros Sotiriou for help with logistics and Phil Short of Phil Short Technical for providing video of the vehicle while conducting the survey. We also acknowledge the help of all those who have contributed to the development and operation of the AUV Sirius, including Christian Lees, Andrew Durrant, Ritesh Lal and Jeremy Randle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR), University of Sydney, Sydney, Nsw 2006, Australia

    Stefan B. Williams & Oscar Pizarro

  2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Brendan Foley

Authors
  1. Stefan B. Williams
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  2. Oscar Pizarro
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  3. Brendan Foley
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Correspondence to Stefan B. Williams .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    David S. Wettergreen

  2. Inst for Aerospace Studies, Univ of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Timothy D. Barfoot

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Williams, S.B., Pizarro, O., Foley, B. (2016). Return to Antikythera: Multi-session SLAM Based AUV Mapping of a First Century B.C. Wreck Site. In: Wettergreen, D., Barfoot, T. (eds) Field and Service Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 113. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27702-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27702-8_4

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