Evaluation of position-keeping strategies for symmetrically-shaped autonomous water-surface robots under disturbances

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted on autonomous surface robots and underwater robots for various tasks in aquatic environments. The duration of the operation of autonomous field robots depends on the capacity of the mounted battery, as they are not typically connected to an external power supply. Therefore, smart strategies which are optimized for each task are required to extend the working time of autonomous field robots. We have developed a symmetrically-shaped au-tonomous surface robot for the long-term monitoring of water quality. In this study, we propose position-keeping strategies to prolong the duration of the symmetrically-shaped surface robot for in-situ monitoring. The proposed position-keeping strategies are evaluated in terms of the power consumption and mean error distance in both practical and simulation environments. The experimental results demonstrate that a robot placed on a water surface with disturbance determines the best course of action to maintain its position based on the environmental conditions and application.