Floating Autonomous Manipulation of the Underwater Biomimetic Vehicle-Manipulator System: Methodology and Verification

This paper addresses the achievement of floating autonomous manipulation of the underwater biomimetic vehicle-manipulator system (UBVMS). A practical vehicle-manipulator coordinated plan and control methodology of the UBVMS for autonomous interventions are designed. First, the system configuration is introduced, and the optimal work space is confirmed. Then, the control framework of the UBVMS mainly consisting of online motion planning, multitask kinematic control, dynamic feedforward compensation, and adaptive parameter undulatory control for autonomous manipulation is presented. The online motion planning method with resort to tracking differentiator is developed to produce desired task trajectory and reference rate. The singularity-robust multitask kinematic control algorithm with state observers is designed to obtain system reference velocity. The couple influence on the vehicle induced by the presence of the manipulator is described as the dynamic feedforward compensation signal to reduce undesired waggle of the UBVMS. Adaptive parameter modifier of the biomimetic propulsor is designed to satisfy multifarious performance requirements in different motion phases. Finally, pool experiments in multiple scenarios for autonomous grasping manipulation are conducted to verify the effectiveness and adaptability of the developed coordinated plan and control strategy.