The present invention was designed as a technological package capable of implementing the removal of up to 30 cm of biofouling, normally originating from sun coral, on support vessels of ships and oil platforms, without the need for help from divers. The integration of the solution consists of a robotic platform containing a robot for flat areas and a robot for recessed areas, which sends the waste originating from the removal, capturing and crushing to a modular waste-treatment system (MSET). The operations center enables the functioning of all of the integrated systems, being housed in a support vessel, which also has a system for automatically launching and recovering the robot, the control of the robotic platform containing a software architecture capable of allowing the operator to view, plan and record the missions.

The present invention was designed as a technological package capable of implementing the removal of up to 30 cm of biofouling, normally originating from sun coral, on support vessels of ships and oil platforms, without the need for help from divers. The integration of the solution consists of a robotic platform containing a robot for flat areas and a robot for recessed areas, which sends the waste originating from the removal, capturing and crushing to a modular waste-treatment system (MSET). The operations center enables the functioning of all of the integrated systems, being housed in a support vessel, which also has a system for automatically launching and recovering the robot, the control of the robotic platform containing a software architecture capable of allowing the operator to view, plan and record the missions.

The present invention relates to a remotely operated underwater robot device for removing marine biofouling, mainly aimed at organisms such as sun coral, settled on hulls of floating units for transporting oil and derivatives thereof, or on exploration and production platforms. The system comprises a remotely operated robot that removes the marine biofouling from said hulls, without damaging the hull, containing and capturing the waste. It is an intelligent device that is capable of operating in two modes: as an ROV to allow it to travel through the water, and as a crawler to perform the actual functions of removing the macrofouling containing sun coral and the functions resulting therefrom. It has non-georeferenced reference systems using acoustic elements to facilitate location by the operator. It uses computer vision to enter the parking areas without human assistance. It contains thrusters for controlling aquatic movements and self-levelling systems with control of the centre-of-buoyancy dynamics, and has wheels for movement, which can be electromagnets or a set of wheels that works in conjunction with a magnetic fastening system, both with variation in the coupling force. It has either a system for removing, containing, capturing and crushing the biofouling or a removal system using cavitation and mechanical impact that can have an approximate height of 30 centimetres, normally applied to sun coral.

The present invention relates to a remotely operated underwater robot device for removing marine biofouling, mainly aimed at organisms such as sun coral, settled on hulls of floating units for transporting oil and derivatives thereof, or on exploration and production platforms. The system comprises a remotely operated robot that removes the marine biofouling from said hulls, without damaging the hull, containing and capturing the waste. It is an intelligent device that is capable of operating in two modes: as an ROV to allow it to travel through the water, and as a crawler to perform the actual functions of removing the macrofouling containing sun coral and the functions resulting therefrom. It has non-georeferenced reference systems using acoustic elements to facilitate location by the operator. It uses computer vision to enter the parking areas without human assistance. It contains thrusters for controlling aquatic movements and self-levelling systems with control of the centre-of-buoyancy dynamics, and has wheels for movement, which can be electromagnets or a set of wheels that works in conjunction with a magnetic fastening system, both with variation in the coupling force. It has either a system for removing, containing, capturing and crushing the biofouling or a removal system using cavitation and mechanical impact that can have an approximate height of 30 centimetres, normally applied to sun coral.

Monitoring method and system to monitor the underwater traffic of an area of interest where at least one underwater element is going to operate. The system comprises: a memory, which is configured to store data comprising a representation of the area of interest, and a list of a plurality of types of underwater elements with the relative digital model; a detection unit to detect the position and the orientation of each underwater element present inside said area of interest; a processing unit, which is configured to determine, based on the stored data and on the detection of said detection unit, the type of each underwater element present inside the area of interest, and to generate, based on said data, a representation of the area of interest showing the static obstacles, and the digital model, the position and the orientation of each underwater element present inside said area of interest; and a user interface to display said representation of the area of interest.

An underwater sonar device and an underwater detecting system. The underwater sonar device comprises a main body, a propeller, a detector and a hydrofoil assembly. The main body is an axisymmetric structure. The propeller, the detector, and the hydrofoil assembly are disposed on the main body. The detector is configured to detect and image an underwater target. The propeller is configured to drive the main body to move along a longitudinal direction and a vertical direction, and control a pitch angle, a roll angle, and a yaw angle of the main body. The hydrofoil assembly is disposed at a back of the main body, and is configured to adjust an included angle between the hydrofoil assembly and the longitudinal direction of the main body automatically based on water resistance on the hydrofoil assembly to keep the sonar device navigating at a fixed depth.

An underwater sonar device and an underwater detecting system. The underwater sonar device comprises a main body, a propeller, a detector and a hydrofoil assembly. The main body is an axisymmetric structure. The propeller, the detector, and the hydrofoil assembly are disposed on the main body. The detector is configured to detect and image an underwater target. The propeller is configured to drive the main body to move along a longitudinal direction and a vertical direction, and control a pitch angle, a roll angle, and a yaw angle of the main body. The hydrofoil assembly is disposed at a back of the main body, and is configured to adjust an included angle between the hydrofoil assembly and the longitudinal direction of the main body automatically based on water resistance on the hydrofoil assembly to keep the sonar device navigating at a fixed depth.

An underwater work system of the present disclosure acquires a relative position of an underwater vehicle relative to a surface ship at the start of searching work, the relative position being measured based on a sound wave transmitted from a wave transmitter. The underwater work system calculates a position of the underwater vehicle based on the acquired relative position. When a measurement error region whose center corresponds to the calculated position of the underwater vehicle and an expected laid region of a pipeline extending in a predetermined direction overlap each other, the underwater work system moves the underwater vehicle to such a position that the measurement error region and the expected laid region do not overlap each other, and then, makes the underwater vehicle perform crossing detection in which the underwater vehicle detects the presence or absence of the pipeline while crossing the expected laid region.

An underwater work system of the present disclosure acquires a relative position of an underwater vehicle relative to a surface ship at the start of searching work, the relative position being measured based on a sound wave transmitted from a wave transmitter. The underwater work system calculates a position of the underwater vehicle based on the acquired relative position. When a measurement error region whose center corresponds to the calculated position of the underwater vehicle and an expected laid region of a pipeline extending in a predetermined direction overlap each other, the underwater work system moves the underwater vehicle to such a position that the measurement error region and the expected laid region do not overlap each other, and then, makes the underwater vehicle perform crossing detection in which the underwater vehicle detects the presence or absence of the pipeline while crossing the expected laid region.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards a system and method for performing an inspection of an underwater environment. Embodiments may include providing an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and performing an inspection of an underwater environment using the AUV. Embodiments may further include acquiring real-time sensor data during the inspection of the underwater environment and applying an active simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm during the inspection, wherein applying includes estimating one or more virtual landmarks based upon, at least in part, at least one past measurement and a current estimate of AUV activity.