Underwater Robot Manipulation: Advances, Challenges and Prospective Ventures

Underwater manipulation is one of the most remarkable ongoing research subjects in robotics. Intervention autonomous underwater vehicles (I-AUVs) not only have to cope with the technical challenges associated with traditional manipulation tasks but do so while currents and waves perturb the stability of the vehicle, and low-light, turbid water conditions impede perceiving the surroundings. Certainly, the dynamic nature and our limited understanding of the marine environment hinder the autonomous performance of underwater robot manipulation. This manuscript provides a discussion on previous research and the limiting factors that impose on the long-envisioned prospects of autonomous underwater manipulation to finally highlight research directions that have the potential to improve the autonomy capabilities of I-AUVs.