Closing the gap between industrial robots and underwater manipulators

Underwater robot manipulators mounted on work class ROVs are extensively used in a wide range of subsea intervention applications. Unlike the automated stationary robot arms used in factories, commercial underwater manipulators are tele-operated by human pilot in the loop. In this paper we describe investigations, development and adaptation of robot manipulator servo control approaches common for light assembly tasks in industry and the transfer of these techniques to marine robotics.