Diver-Robot communication using wearable sensing diver glove

Abstract

Diver-robot communication is an exciting very recent field. To make the communication easier for humans, typical diver gestures can be transmitted to a robot through the use of a wearable glove and acoustic communications. Following previous work from the University of Zagreb and the University of Auckland, a collaboration to control an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle based on a wearable diver glove has been made possible through the EU Marine Robots project. In the context of this project, Trans-National Access (TNA) trials allow LABUST, University of Zagreb to offer its robots and infrastructure to external partners. Initial trials with University of Auckland planned to take place physically have been transformed to remote access trials. This paper reports on these challenging trials and collaboration given the distance and timezone difference.