Visual imagery for subsea teleprogramming

Abstract

The objective of this work is to allow subsea teleoperative tasks to be performed efficiently even when all communication between human operator and remote robot is via an acoustic link. This paper describes the integration of remote site cameras into the teleprogramming system. Images from these cameras may be used for calibrating and maintaining the world model as well as for aiding the operator in diagnosing and recovering from unexpected events. The constrained communications channel forces the adoption of an intelligent approach to image transmission. The system automatically selects windowing and subsampling parameters while varying frame rates and task execution speeds to match that which the system can support given available bandwidth and computational constraints. Examples are presented from tests in which an operator in Philadelphia controlled a robot manipulator mounted on an underwater vehicle submerged off the Massachusetts coast.