Principal Investigator H Harry Asada
Project Website http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1363391&HistoricalAwards=false
Project Start Date July 2014
Project End Date June 2017
The goal of this project is to establish a new design and control method for highly maneuverable underwater robots to perform inspection of underwater structures. Compact, egg-shaped robots will allow us to bring inspection instruments to those complex underwater structures that have seldom been inspected. Those include reactor internals of nuclear power plants and the equipment of hydro-dams, both of which require access to dangerous sites for inspection and monitoring. Furthermore, the highly maneuverable robot can be applied to port security, offshore facility monitoring, and cable network maintenance. Collaborations with energy industries and others will be sought for disseminating the new design method.
The project will study egg-shaped robots, having no rudders and appendages. The compact and smooth body shape allows the robot to access complex underwater structures with multi-axis jets. The spheroidal vehicle, however, is hydro-dynamically unstable and thereby not appropriate from the traditional submarine design viewpoint. This project will argue that the vehicle instability can be exploited for quick turning and agile movements, a design concept similar to Control-Configured Vehicles in aeronautics, and how such vehicles can be designed optimally from the dynamics and control viewpoint. The project aims to stabilize the vehicle, yet maximize the maneuvering capability, through the design of high-speed water valves, effective configuration of multi-axis jets, optimization of the vehicle body shape, and control synthesis.