An underwater robotic testbed for multi-vehicle control

The PVC-ROV underwater robot testbed is a low-cost, three vehicle system designed to support research into multi-robot control techniques. Each vehicle is composed of a PVC frame with bilge-pump motors, a central microcontroller, and hobby-class sensing and power components. In addition, each vehicle is tethered to a surface buoy by a 15 meter tether and wirelessly exchanges data with an off-board, Matlab-based control program; an acoustic tracking system simultaneously tracks the position of each vehicle. Use of the testbed has begun with demonstration of two-vehicle cluster space control, a specific control technique developed by researchers in Santa Clara University's Robotic Systems Laboratory. This paper reviews the design of the PVC-ROV testbed and presents initial results in using the testbed to demonstrate the cluster control technique in an underwater environment.