Functional Self-Awareness and Metacontrol for Underwater Robot Autonomy

Abstract

Autonomous systems are expected to maintain a dependable operation without human intervention. They are intended to fulfill the mission for which they were deployed, properly handling the disturbances that may affect them. Underwater robots, such as the UX-1 mine explorer developed in the UNEXMIN project, are paradigmatic examples of this need. Underwater robots are affected by both external and internal disturbances that hamper their capability for autonomous operation. Long-term autonomy requires not only the capability of perceiving and properly acting in open environments but also a sufficient degree of robustness and resilience so as to maintain and recover the operational functionality of the system when disturbed by unexpected events. In this article, we analyze the operational conditions for autonomous underwater robots with a special emphasis on the UX-1 miner explorer. We then describe a knowledge-based self-awareness and metacontrol subsystem that enables the autonomous reconfiguration of the robot subsystems to keep mission-oriented capability. This resilience augmenting solution is based on the deep modeling of the functional architecture of the autonomous robot in combination with ontological reasoning to allow self-diagnosis and reconfiguration during operation. This mechanism can transparently use robot functional redundancy to ensure mission satisfaction, even in the presence of faults.

Using Ontologies in Autonomous Robots Engineering

“…In our case, our next actions will be (i) measure the impact of CT model exploitation in terms of how it affects robot performance and mission fulfillment in real-world scenarios, which we have already addressed from the ontological perspective [1]; and (ii) extend the model to other activities in the system life-cycle, such as mission specification, performance metrics, testing, etc. These concepts can be used for validation using compositional viewpoint equations, as suggested by [27,6].…”

Management and Sustainable Exploitation of Marine Environments through Smart Monitoring and Automation

“…Unmanned vehicles (UMVs) represent a significant innovation, improving the quality, affordability, and costs of environmental monitoring (Table 1). They are also used in the military field for the inspection of areas and targets of strategic interest [33], and they are divided into three kinds: AUVs, autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROUVs). These vehicles can be also deployed in the air (unmanned aerial systems (UASs)), at the sea's surface (ASVs, also known as unmanned surface vessels (USVs)), or in the water column (AUVs).…”

The specific design of flooding monitoring of the Rozna I uranium mine, Czech Republic

“…In order to start the sampling container, it will be necessary to install an electric winch with the appropriate length of rope on the pit head of both shafts according to the depth of the sampling. After the mine water rises to the 13th level, it would be possible to test the modern trend in the survey of flooded underground mines, currently carried out by the UNEXMIN consortium using multiplatform autonomous underwater drones, and after modifications applied to potential restored underground mines [41,42].…”