AUV for diver assistance and safety — Design and implementation

Diving as a profession and sport is and will be one of the most dangerous disciplines known by man. Water is not a natural habitat for humans and people need equipment to breathe underwater. Failure in the breathing apparatus, burst eardrum, decompression sickness and nitrogen narcosis are just a couple of problems which can occur during an ordinary dive and result in injuries, long-term illnesses or even death. The most common way to reduce the risk of diving is to dive in pairs. Use of the buddy system by scuba divers is a set of safety procedures that are intended to improve divers´ chances of avoiding or surviving accidents underwater. When diving in pairs, divers can cooperate with each other and respond when uncommon situations occur. Having the ability to react before an unwanted situation happens would improve diver safety. This paper proposes a mechanical system which will be used with a scuba diver in a symbiotic link. The concept consists of a diver, an autonomous underwater robot (Buddy) and an autonomous surface robot (PlaDyPos) (Fig. 1) [1].