Abstract
In this paper, we outline a low cost multi-robot autonomous platform for a broad set of applications including water quality monitoring, flood disaster mitigation and depth buoy verification. By working cooperatively, fleets of vessels can cover large areas that would otherwise be impractical, time consuming and prohibitively expensive to traverse by a single vessel. We describe the hardware design, control infrastructure, and software architecture of the system, while additionally presenting experimental results from several field trials. Further, we discuss our initial efforts towards developing our system for water quality monitoring, in which a team of watercraft equipped with specialized sensors autonomously samples the physical quantity being measured and provides online situational awareness to the operator regarding water quality in the observed area. From canals in New York to volcanic lakes in the Philippines, our vessels have been tested in diverse marine environments and the results obtained from initial experiments in these domains are also discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. Elfes, G.W. Podnar, J.M. Dolan, S. Stancliff, E. Lin, J.C. Hosler, T.J. Ames, J. Higinbotham, J.R. Moisan, T.A. Moisan, et al., The telesupervised adaptive ocean sensor fleet architecture: coordination of multiple oceanic robot boats, in Proceedings of the IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2008
R. Hine, P. McGillivary, Wave powered autonomous surface vessels as components of ocean observing systems, in Proceedings of PACON 2007, Honolulu, HI, June 2007
J.C. Leedekerken, M.F. Fallon, J.J. Leonard, Mapping complex marine environments with autonomous surface craft, in 12th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2010, New Delhi & Agra, India, December 2010
K.H. Low, G. Podnar, S. Stancliff, J.M. Dolan, A. Elfes, Robot boats as a mobile aquatic sensor network, in Proceeding Workshop on Sensor Networks for Earth and Space Science Applications at the International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, 2009
J. Manley, A. Marsh, W. Cornforth, C. Wisema, Evolution of the autonomous surface craft autocat, in Proceedings of Oceans 2000, MTS/IEEE Providence, RI, October 2000
G. Niemi, D. Wardrop, R. Brooks, S. Anderson, V. Brady et al., Rationale for a new generation of indicators for coastal waters. Environ. Health Perspect 112(9), (2004). doi: 10.1289/ehp.6903
G.W. Podnar, J.M. Dolan, A. Elfes, S. Stancliff, E. Lin, J.C Hosier, T.J. Ames, J. Moisan, T.A. Moisan, J. Higinbotham, et al., Operation of robotic science boats using the telesupervised adaptive ocean sensor fleet system, in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ’07), 2007
P. Scerri, B. Kannan, P. Velagapudi, K. Macarthur, P. Stone, M.E. Taylor, J. Dolan, A. Farinelli, A. Chapman, B. Dias, et al., Flood disaster mitigation: a real-world challenge problem for multi-agent unmanned surface vehicles, in AAMAS ’11 Workshop on Autonomous Robots and Multi-robot Systems, 2011
G.S. Sukhatme, A. Dhariwal, B. Zhang, C. Oberg, B. Stauffer, D.A. Caron, The design and development of a wireless robotic networked aquatic microbial observing system. Environ. Eng. Sci. 24(2), 205–215, Mar (2007)
T. Vaneck, J. Manley, C. Rodriguez, M. Schmid, Automated bathymetry using an autonomous surface craft. Navigation, J. Inst. Navig. 43(4), Winter (1996–1997)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Valada, A., Velagapudi, P., Kannan, B., Tomaszewski, C., Kantor, G., Scerri, P. (2014). Development of a Low Cost Multi-Robot Autonomous Marine Surface Platform. In: Yoshida, K., Tadokoro, S. (eds) Field and Service Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 92. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40686-7_43
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40686-7_43
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40685-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40686-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)