Path tracking control test of underwater mining robot

The path tracking control means that the mining robot autonomously follows the predefined path with a constant ground speed. KRISO(Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering) has developed pilot-scale mining robot in 2012. The robot consists of two unit-modules having an identical mechanical and hydraulic configuration. All actuators in the unit-module are worked by HPU(with dual pumps) of 250kW. In 2013, path tracking control test was performed at 130m depth in the east sea of South Korea. First, underwater localization of the robot is based on IKF(Indirect Kalman Filter) method fusing the inner sensors measuring and the position of USBL system. The reasonable control parameters are determined through pre-tracking tests for simple paths such as lane-change path and keyhole path. To realize much precise path tracking, the information of track slip is considered to the controller. Finally, the tracking performance of the proposed controller is proven through sea-tests for complex path as `COREA´.