Model Predictive Control for Six Degrees-of-Freedom Station-Keeping of an Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System

Abstract: Underwater robotics are a reliable and ecient mean for exploration and surveysin a submarine environment. Albeit, intervention tasks, e.g. installationand maintenance, require the expansive and hazardous deployment of professionaldivers. Lightweight unmanned underwater vehicles equipped with a multi-degreeof-freedom manipulator, have been proposed as an alternative. However, the controlof these vehicle-manipulator systems is challenging due to their non-linearhigh-dimensional coupled dynamics. The central problem explored in this thesis,is station keeping of an underwater vehicle under the inuence of a moving manipulator.The manipulator is represented by predictable disturbing forces andmoments. The proposed control scheme is a Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithmwith preview of the disturbances. In simulation, performance of the MPCscheme is evaluated for dierent degrees of knowledge about the disturbances.Results are compared to a classical feedback controller.