Modelling and Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Mobile Manipulation

In the last few years the development of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) has had a greater importance because of their fundamental applications in the military field, in underwater explorations (e.g. archaeological field) and in the industrial field (e.g. for Oil&Gas). More specifically, in the evolution of the AUVs the following topics hold an important position, which are still characterized by many open problems: the dynamic performances and the control of the single vehicle, the mobile tele-manipulation of a single vehicle and the cooperation among vehicles (whether including the manipulation operations or not) [1] [2] [3] [5]. In this work the authors describe the multibody modelling and the control architecture of an AUV specifically thought for the mobile underwater manipulation, usually called I-AUV (AUV for Intervention). The performances of such an AUV will have to meet strict planning and control specifications, both as regards the vehicle itself and as for the manipulation phase.