Monitored and controlled underwater manipulator using pixy camera

Tan, Pheng Chiang (2018) Monitored and controlled underwater manipulator using pixy camera. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Underwater Vehicle Manipulator System generally consists of a camera unit and robotic manipulator.Its main function is to replace human work in underwater manipulation tasks.Most commercially available manipulators are not designed for autonomous underwater vehicle because the vehicle does not have sufficient power supply to drive these manipulators which are electro-hydraulically driven.A proposed solution is to invest in development of low power underwater manipulator to deepen studies in autonomous underwater vehicle.Thus, this research has an objective of developing an underwater manipulator for small size autonomous underwater vehicle.In this research,the manipulator is used in an object recovery task. An acrylic scissor arm which is electro-mechanically driven will be used as manipulator in this research.Permanent magnets are used as its end effector.A Pixy CMUcam5 vision sensor is paired with this manipulator to navigate the autonomous underwater vehicle and control the manipulator.Usage of planar pressure housing helps reducing light refraction effect of underwater environment that may affect the sensor’s accuracy.From simulation done using SOLIDWORKS, it is found out that type 316L stainless steel is the best choice for the manipulator developed.In order to evaluate the performance of the Underwater Vehicle Manipulator System developed,a series of tests are carried out.Based on the results obtained,it is known that the system has high speed and consistency with minimum time delay between input and output.As long as an object has distinct colour signature from its background and its surrounding is clear and well illuminated,the Pixy vision sensor can detect that object regardless of the distance between sensor and object.

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