Tri-SedimentBot: An underwater sediment sampling robot

Abstract

In this paper, we present Tri-SedimentBot (TSB), an underwater sediment sampling robot that uses combined rotation and linear motion to collect sediment. A main contribution of this system is a novel design for the sampling system that employs a dual-motion system with feedback control in order to maintain the stability of the TSB and the sediment collection method. We demonstrate the performance of the TSB with a set of experiments using both open and closed-loop control systems; experiments show that the TSB with closed-loop control system outperforms the TSB with open-loop control system.