Underwater vehicles, included remotely operated vehicles
(ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), are playing
an
increasingly important role in collecting data for marine research.
The school has been investigating the possibility of developing
an AUV to act as a test-bed for research into autonomous underwater
operation. Professor Arthur Sale undertook preliminary work
on design and development of such a vehicle and the school
had been awaiting funds to build a prototype. Recently, however,
a group from the Australian Maritime College, has begun the
process of designing and building a small ROV and staff from
the School of Computing & Information Systems have joined this group. They are contributing
to the design of the electronics and the development of control
software. It is anticipated that future research will develop
autonomous capabilities for this vehicle.
