Swimoid: Interacting with an underwater buddy robot

Due to the rapid technological advancement of underwater robotic vehicles and underwater applications, the methodology of presenting information from robots to humans in underwater environments has become an important topic. However, this topic has not yet been fully investigated in the research field of Underwater Human-Robot Interaction(UHRI). In this paper, we propose a new concept of an underwater robot called the “Buddy Robot”. The “Buddy Robot” is a category of the underwater robots that has two abilities; recognizing and following the user, and giving out visual information to human using display devices. As one specific example of this concept, we developed a swim support system called “Swimoid”. Swimoid consists of three parts which include the underwater robot hardware, the control software, and functions for assisting swimmers. For the prototype functions, we implemented a self-awareness function that enables swimmers to recognize their swimming form in real time, and a coaching function which enables coaches on the poolside to give instructions to swimmers while swimming. As a result of user tests, we confirmed that this system works properly.