Design and Control of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) are the robots that are used to monitor underwater environment at remote distance, either for inspection of underwater wreckage or for surveillance of underwater environment. Any such robot due to harshness of environment conditions needs a robust watertight design and requires various sensors for effective environment monitoring. The entire UUV structure is comprise of the vehicle, which is linked with operators on top of the surface by a set of cables that hold relevant cables for data and power communication. In this context, a lightweight underwater vehicle was designed using PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipes and equipped with brushless DC motors, electronic speed controller, relay module, sonar, claw arm and Camera. It can navigate navigated in six directions (up, down, left, right, forward, backward) and camera allows underwater surveillance of the environment, with sonar helping to indicate the target depth. The designed UUV can also perform basic pick and place task using a claw arm and is remotely operated using a joystick controller. Overall, the designed UUV prototype has shown its potential capabilities for underwater surveillance and environment monitoring through practical demonstrations