Submarine Manipulation

COTSbot will be transformed into RangerBot after winning a $750,000 Google Impact Challenge Australia's people's choice vote.

This project will explore and develop techniques for control and vision in submarines to allow for robust and effective manipulation capabilities –autonomous control of an underwater mobile manipulator in the presence of current and reactionary forces.

  • Underwater maintenance: A submarine mobile manipulator can carry out underwater maintenance and monitoring, for example, dam wall maintenance or ship hull cleaning.
  • Coral Reef: A submarine mobile manipulator which can collect samples, remove rubbish, remove invasive species, and/or monitor.

Alternatively, these same underlying ideas could be applied to an arial mobile manipulator – a drone with a mounted manipulator.


Chief Investigators