Fiscal Year	2014
Division	Research & Sponsored Programs
Department	Consortium for Robotics & Unmanned Systems Education & Research
Investigator(s)	Du Toit, Noel E.
Sponsor	Office of Naval Research (Navy)
Summary	A fundamental shift is occurring in robotics research: robots are increasingly being put to work in real-world environments. These environments tend to be complex and cluttered, and the tasks are complicated. This research focuses on a robotic co-worker for underwater activities that involve human divers. Diver operations are inherently dangerous. Physiological effects limit dive duration and frequency and necessitate a large support crew, increasing operational costs. The sensory-deprived underwater environment makes navigation, communication, and documentation challenging. A robotic diver assistant system is proposed to provide autonomous support to diver teams. The assistant augments the dive team by providing utility without burdening the team with vehicle command and control. The proposed research initiative will establish a baseline autonomy capability (acoustic mapping, site-relative navigation, and diver-relative navigation) that forms the foundation for a robotic diver assistant.
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Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal