Flexible lengthening-shortening arm mechanism for an underwater vehicle

The goal of this study was to monitor and record the condition of an obstructed seabed by underwater robots instead of a diver's observations in a shallow area. It is difficult to investigate marine resources that live in deep water shaded by rock due to large and/or small rocks on the seabed. Therefore, a flexible lengthening-shortening arm with a camera unit for an underwater robot would be a suitable investigation resource. In this paper, we demonstrate the newly developed flexible lengthening-shortening arm mechanism (FLSAM) and experimental results of a path-tracing controller.