Exploring the Seafloor with Underwater Robots

Abstract

Deep sea exploration, requires the use of underwater vehicles. Initially, such vehicles were operated by a pilot while carrying one or more scientists. These limitations have led to the development of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), which represent a safer alternative since no human personnel need to dive into the ocean. UUVs can be classified into remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Acquiring optical images with an AUV is an even more dangerous endeavor since the robot needs to get very close to the seafloor, which may lead to accidents that range from hitting the seafloor to being trapped by a fishing net. When acquiring images of the ocean floor, the main challenges are caused by the special transmission properties of the light in the underwater medium. The term dehazing addresses restoration of images compromising atmospheric haze, which is essentially an effect of light scattering. Vision-based navigation is a dead-reckoning process.