At recent COMPIT conference in Redworth/UK (13 th International Conference on Computer Applications and Information Technology in the Maritime[ds_preview] Industries) Marco Bibuli et al. from CNR-ISSIA (Institute of Intelligent Systems for Automation) in Genova/Italy presented results of the final operational trials of the Cooperative Autonomous Robotic Towing system (CART). This project proposes a new concept for salvage operations of distressed ships at sea based on the exploitation of robotic platforms able to autonomously execute the high-risk operation of linking the emergency towing system of distressed ships to towing vessels.
The CART concept is based on the idea of using beyond state-of-the-art cooperative robotics technology in the field of unmanned marine vehicles to improve the safety and feasibility of salvage operations by increasing the distance between the towing tugboat, or salvage vessel, and distressed ship. This can be done by combining the use of a pickup buoy named B-ART, which is robotized and able to manoeuvre to a reasonable distance from the ship in order to reach a safe and visible position where it can be easily recovered, deployed at sea from the distressed ship with a human operator aboard the tugboat. Or with an unmanned semi-submersible vehicle (USSV), named ART, remotely controlled or supervised (according to its degree of autonomy), performing the recovery task, in the case of cooperative robotic operations.
Bibuli reported a description of the vehicles’ development and the results of the final testing and exploitation carried out in real case scenarios. According to him, the trials have proven the validity of the overall CART concept, the functionalities of each single prototype and the reliability of the fully autonomous cooperative capture and knotting procedure.
Single vehicle’s performances are compliant with required specifics such as operation guaranteed for a minimum of 15 minutes; limited weight (1–2 people can handle the vehicle); different control modes; and reliable rope lock hook system. The coordinated manoeuvre performances provide: reliable complete autonomous capture and knotting manoeuvre; during all the trials and experiments, no negative hooking results have been obtained; easiness of system exploitation.
For further information see the full paper included in the COMPIT proceedings (www.compit.info) or contact marco.bibuli@ge.issia.cnr.it
