Smart and networking underwater robots in cooperation meshes : the swarms ECSEL : H2020 project

The work presented on this paper is aimed to explain the role that
unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs/ROVs) plays in the ECSEL-H2020 SWARMS
project. The main goal of the project is to reduce the operational cost and increase
the safety of tasks assigned to divers in these operations. This will be achieved
enabling the AUVs/ROVs to work in a cooperative mesh. The challenge is to design
and develop an integrated platform (a set of Software/Hardware components),
incorporated into the current generation of underwater vehicles in order to
improve autonomy, cooperation, robustness, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of
the offshore operations. The first demonstration of the project will be performed at
PLOCAN (Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands) where these technologies will be
validated on its first stage.