• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.124-130
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• 2005

Obstacle avoidance of underwater robots based on a modified virtual force field algorithm is proposed in this paper. The VFF(Virtual Force Field) algorithm, which is widely used in the field of mobile robots, is modified for application to the obstacle avoidance of underwater robots. This Modified Virtual Force Field(MVFF) algorithm using the fuzzy lgoc can be used in moving obstacles avoidance. A fuzzy algorithm is devised to handle various situations which can be faced during autonomous navigation of underwater robots. The proposed obstacle avoidance algorithm has ability to handle multiple moving obstacles. Results of simulation show that the proposed algorithm can be efficiently applied to obstacle avoidance of the underwater robots.

• 한국지능시스템학회논문지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.498-504
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• 2005

본 논문에서는 퍼지 로직을 이용한 수중 로봇의 충돌 회피를 제안하였다. VFF(Virtual Force Field) 방법은 이동 로봇 분야에서 널리 사용하고 있는 충돌 회피 알고리즘이다. 본 논문에서는 이를 수중 로봇의 자율 항해를 위한 형태로 변형시킨 Modified Virtual Force Field(MVFF)를 제시하였다. 보다 정교한 알고리즘을 위해서 퍼지 로직을 이용한 MVFF를 구성하였고, 이를 수중 로봇의 경로 유지와 충돌 회피에 적용하였다 퍼지 로직은 수중 로봇의 자율 항해 동안 직면하게 되는 다양한 상황들을 다루었다. 제안한 충돌 회피 알고리즘은 다수개의 고정 장애물에 대해서 좋은 성능을 제시하였다. 시뮬레이션 결과를 통해 제안된 방법이 수중 로봇의 충돌 회피에 효과적으로 적용될 수 있음을 보였다.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.238-244
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• 2021

Image mosaicking is a common and useful technique to visualize a global map by stitching a large number of local images obtained from visual surveys in underwater environments. In particular, visual inspection of underwater structures using underwater robots can be a potential application for image mosaicking. Feature-based pairwise image registration is a commonly employed process in most image mosaicking algorithms to estimate visual odometry information between compared images. However, visual features are not always uniformly distributed on the surface of underwater structures, and thus the performance of image registration can vary significantly, which results in unnecessary computations in image matching for poor-conditioned image pairs. This study proposes a pairwise registrability measure to select informative image pairs and to improve the overall computational efficiency of underwater image mosaicking algorithms. The validity and effectiveness of the image mosaicking algorithm considering the pairwise registrability are demonstrated using an experimental dataset obtained with a full-scale ship in a real sea environment.

• 전기학회논문지
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• 제65권1호
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• pp.135-141
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• 2016

Recently, the needs for the development and application of marine robots are increasing as marine accidents occur frequently. However, it is very difficult to acquire the information by utilizing marine robots in the marine environment. Therefore, the needs for the researches of sensor networks which are composed of underwater, surface and aerial robots are increasing in order to acquire the information effectively as the information from heterogeneous robots has less limitation in terms of coverage and connectivity. Although various researches of the sensor network which is based on marine robots have been executed, all of the underwater, surface and aerial robots have not yet been considered in the sensor network. To solve this problem, a collaborative control method based on the acoustic information and image by the sonars of the underwater robot, the acoustic information by the sonar of the surface robot and the optical image by the camera of the static-floating aerial robot is proposed. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the collaborative control of a MUR(Micro Underwater Robot) with an OAS(Obstacle Avoidance Sonar) and a SSS(Side Scan Sonar), a MSR(Micro Surface Robot) with an OAS and a BMAR(Balloon-based Micro Aerial Robot) with a camera are executed. The test results show the possibility of real applications and the need for additional studies.

• 한국군사과학기술학회지
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.189-200
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• 2015

This paper gives an overview on the some potential applications and key technologies of biomimetic underwater robot for naval operations. Unlike most manned underwater naval systems, biomimetic underwater robots can be especially useful in near-land or harbour areas due to their ability to operate in shallow water effectively. Biomimetic underwater robot provide advantages in reaching locations that would be difficult or too dangerous for a manned vehicle to reach, as well as providing a level of autonomy that can remove the requirement for dedicated human operator support. Using multiple or schools of underwater robots would provide increased flexibility for navigation, communication and surveillance ability. And it alleviate some of the restrictions associated with speed and endurance design constraints.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.32-38
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• 2020

This paper describes a method for tracking attitude and position of underwater robots. Underwater work with underwater robots is subject to differences in work efficiency depending on the skill of the operator and the utilization of additional sensors. Therefore, this study developed an underwater robot that can operate autonomously and maintain a certain attitude when working underwater to reduce difference of work efficiency. The developed underwater robot uses 8 thrusters to control 6 degrees of freedom motion, IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), DVL (Doppler Velocity Log) and PS (Pressure Sensor) to measure attitude and position. In addition, the thruster allocation algorithm was designed to follow the control desired value using 8 thrusters, and the motion control experiments were performed in the engineering water basin using the thruster allocation method.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.142-149
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• 2012

The camera has limitations of poor visibility in underwater environment due to the limited light source and medium noise of the environment. However, its usefulness in close range has been proved in many studies, especially for navigation. Thus, in this paper, vision-based object detection and tracking techniques using artificial objects for underwater robots have been studied. We employed template matching and mean shift algorithms for the object detection and tracking methods. Also, we propose the weighted correlation coefficient of adaptive threshold -based and color-region-aided approaches to enhance the object detection performance in various illumination conditions. The color information is incorporated into the template matched area and the features of the template are used to robustly calculate correlation coefficients. And the objects are recognized using multi-template matching approach. Finally, the water basin experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed techniques using an underwater robot platform yShark made by KORDI.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.259-266
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• 2012

In these days, researches about underwater robots have been actively in progress for the purposes of ocean detection and resource exploration. Unlike general underwater robots such as ROV(Remotely Operated Vehicle) and AUV(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) which have propellers, an articulated underwater robot which is called Crabster has been being developed in KORDI(Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute) with many cooperation organizations since 2010. The robot is expected to be able to walk and swim under the sea with its legs. Among many researching fields of this project, we are focusing on a swimming section. In order to find effective swimming locomotion for the robot, we approached this subject in terms of Biomimetics. As a model of optimized swimming organism in nature, diving beetles were chosen. In the paper, swimming motions of diving beetles were analyzed in viewpoint of robotics for applying them into the swimming motion of the robot. After modeling the kinematics of diving beetle through robotics engineering technique, we obtained swimming patterns of the one of living diving beetles, and then compared them with calculated optimal swimming patterns of a robot leg. As the first trial to compare the locomotion data of legs of the diving beetle with a robot leg, we have sorted two representative swimming patterns such as forwarding and turning. Experimental environment has been set up to get the motion data of diving beetles. The experimental equipment consists of a transparent aquarium and a high speed camera. Various swimming motions of diving beetles were recorded with the camera. After classifying swimming patterns of the diving beetle, we can get angular data of each joint on hind legs by image processing software, Image J. The data were applied to an optimized algorithm for swimming of a robot leg which was designed by robotics engineering technique. Through this procedure, simulated results which show trajectories of a robot leg were compared with trajectories of a leg of a diving beetle in desired directions. As a result, we confirmed considerable similarity in the result of trajectory and joint angles comparison.

• 대한임베디드공학회논문지
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Underwater robots operating in constrained underwater environment have requirements for software systems. Firstly, it is necessary to provide reusable common software components for hardware interface of sensors and actuators that are frequently used in underwater robots. Secondly, it is required to support distributed execution environment on multiple embedded controllers. Thirdly, it is need to implement a monitoring system capable of high-speed and large-data transmission for underwater robots operating in an environment where it is difficult to check the robot status. For these requirements, we have designed the layered architecture pattern and applied several design patterns to enhance the reusability and the maintainability of software components, In addition, we overlaid the broker architecture pattern to support distributed execution environments. Finally, we implemented the underwater robot software system using ROS framework based on the software architecture design. In order to evaluate the performance of the implemented software system, we performed an experiment to measure the response time between components and the transmission rate of the monitoring data, and obtained the results satisfying the required performance.

• 스마트미디어저널
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• 제11권9호
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• pp.64-74
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• 2022

해양자원을 활용하기 위한 수중 로봇과 관련된 연구가 다수 진행되고 있다. 그러나 일반 드론과 다르게 수중 로봇은 매개체가 공기가 아닌 물이기 때문에 위치 파악이 쉽지 않은 문제점이 존재한다. 수중 위치를 확인하기 위한 기존 연구인 수중 로봇의 모니터링 및 포지셔닝 프로그램은 대규모 공간에서 활용하기 위한 목적을 가지고 있기 때문에 소규모의 공간에서 위치 파악 및 모니터링에 어려움을 가지고 있다. 이에 본 논문에서는 소규모 공간에서 지속적인 모니터링과 명령 전달을 위한 3차원 포지셔닝 프로그램을 제안한다. 제안된 프로그램은 수중 로봇의 위치에 깊이를 확인할 수 있도록 다차원 포지셔닝 모니터링 기능과 3차원 화면을 통해 이동 경로 제어할 수 있는 기능으로 구성된다. 성능평가를 통해 수중 로봇이 수조 모습과 동일하게 출력되어 3차원 화면으로 다양한 각도에서 모니터링 확인이 가능하였으며, 설정 경로와 실제 위치의 차이가 평균 6.44m 이내로써 상정 범위 내의 오차를 확인하였다.