The mechatronic system of Eco-Dolphin — A fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper presents the mechatronic system of a fleet of three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) called Eco-Dolphin. Besides common features of robots, the unique challenges for underwater robots such as water proof technology and underwater communication are addressed. The Eco-Dolphin fleet is built to serve both societal and the academic needs specified below. Coastal areas have the densest human populations and serve as critical economic and recreational areas. However, they are sensitive to both human-induced and natural alterations as well as disasters. While robots are widely used to replace humans for dangerous work in many other fields, environmental monitoring missions in coastal waters still mostly rely on human divers. To serve the societal need, the Eco-Dolphin fleet presents a novel prototype of cost effective robots for monitoring coastal environments. The fleet can collect data cooperatively with minimal supervision from the users on a nearby boat. To contribute to academic research, the fleet is used to test swarming algorithms for robot formation in 3D space. To contribute to science education, the Eco-Dolphin project offers a platform for students to gain hands-on research experiences and an incubator to find first-hand scientific research problems.