Design and Control of the "QuadBoat": A Quadruped Surface Vehicle for Drowning Rescue

Abstract

Prompt extraction of victims from water is crucial in water surface rescue missions. However, previous research on rescue robots has seldom addressed this issue. This paper presents QuadBoat, a bio-inspired unmanned surface vehicle (USV) designed to track and retrieve victims from water. QuadBoat features a quadrupedal robot configuration, enabling it with highly adaptable and agile maneuverability through its actively adjustable posture. Employing an inverse kinematics-based controller and cascaded model predictive control (MPC)-PID controller for overall movement, QuadBoat can accurately track and retrieve objects on the water surface. Maneuverability demonstrations validate QuadBoat's high agility, while a series of tracking experiments, including leg action tracking and trajectory tracking, confirm its high motion accuracy and system mobility. Finally, visual-based tracking and object pickup experiments further verify QuadBoat's target tracking capabilities and its effectiveness in executing rescues, both indoors and outdoors.