Laboratory and sea tests of the supervisory controlled underwater telemanipulation system

This paper presents the supervisory controlled underwater telemanipulation system, developed by Tecnomare to significantly increase the efficiency of underwater robotics. They key components of this system are the TV-Trackmeter and the supervisory control computer. Basically the TV-Trackmeter, a stereoscopic computer vision system, provides a geometric modelling of the working scene; the supervisory control computer, on the basis of this geometric modelling, provides a useful interface between the operator and the remote robotic arm. The system has already been successfully tested by full scale laboratory trials including cleaning, close video and NDT inspection, in addition to typical well head intervention tasks such as valve operation and hot line connection; such tests proved the efficiency of the supervisory control approach. The system is going to be installed on a remotely operated vehicle for 'at sea' tests. >