Design and Development of the Ictineu AUV

Abstract

This chapter describes the Ictineu AUV (Figure 3.1), the research vehicle of the Computer Vision and Robotics Research group at the University of Girona that constitutes the experimental platform of this thesis.

In 2006, the Defence Science and Technology Lab (DSTL), the Heriot-Watt University and the National Oceanographic Centre of Southampton organized the first Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge - Europe (SAUC-E) [27], Europeanwide competition for students to foster research and development in underwater technology. Ictineu AUV was originally conceived as an entry for the SAUC-E competition by a team of students collaborating with the Underwater Robotics Laboratory [129, 109]. This author, who was team leader during the competition, became involved in the hardware design and construction phase as well as in the development of the sonar based localization system (described in Section 5.2). Although the competition determined many of the vehicle’s specifications, Ictineu was also designed taking into account its posterior use as an experimental platform for various research projects in our laboratory. The experience gained by the group in the previous development of vehicles such as the Garbi AUV, made it possible to build a low-cost vehicle of reduced weight (52 Kg) and dimensions (74 x 46.5 x 52.4 cm) with remarkable sensorial capabilities and easy maintenance.