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Mobile robot society for distributed operations in closed aquatic environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2000

M. Vainio
Affiliation:
Automation Technology Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 5400, FIN-02015 HUT (Finland) www.automation.hut.fi E-mail: mika.vainio@hut.fi
P. Appelqvist
Affiliation:
Automation Technology Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 5400, FIN-02015 HUT (Finland) www.automation.hut.fi E-mail: mika.vainio@hut.fi
A. Halme
Affiliation:
Automation Technology Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 5400, FIN-02015 HUT (Finland) www.automation.hut.fi E-mail: mika.vainio@hut.fi

Abstract

In this paper a multirobot system consisting of small size ball-shaped mobile underwater robots is introduced. Robots form a cooperative society operating together for a common goal. This is made possible by inter-member communication and control architecture allowing cooperation. The test environment is a closed aquatic process containing tanks, pipes, and a jet pump. The task considered is cleaning of biologically contaminated spots in the process. Detailed hardware structure of a robot-member as well as the control architecture are introduced. Behaviour of the cooperative system is demonstrated in a test environment where contamination caused by biological algae growth is emulated by infrared panels behaving like a living biomass.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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