Mechanism-Parameters Optimization of a Reconfigurable Tracked Mobile Modular Deep-Sea Rover ROV

Abstract

It is extremely difficult and expensive to operate a traditional remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the deep sea. In this paper, a small and reconfigurable tracked mobile modular deep-sea rover ROV (R-ROV) is designed to conduct regional fine-sounding operations. The R-ROV can be placed inside a deep-sea lander, which can be operated in 3000m depth seafloor. When the lander lands seafloor, R-ROV can walk out in crawling or cruising mode operated in a fan-shaped area with long working time. In order to obtain mechanism-parameters and improve R-ROV's adaptability and motility, multi-objective genetic algorithm is used in this paper. So the relationship between the objective functions and mechanism-parameters of the transformable vehicle is established. There are two typical objective obstacles for the crawl mode R-ROV, stair and gully. However, different from the robot walking on land, it is difficult to find the optimal configuration across the stairs underwater because of the buoyancy of water. This paper proposes a method to obtain optimized mechanism-parameters for the R-ROV considering the underwater environment, which has been calculated through simulation. The results are reported in detail.