TriMARES - A hybrid AUV/ROV for dam inspection

This paper describes the full development process of TriMARES, a hybrid AUV/ROV designed to fulfil the requirements of a consortium for the inspection and periodic monitoring of a large dam reservoir. The demand of robotic systems for underwater operations is growing exponentially and there are many scenarios for which the commercial solutions are not adequate. Such was the case with TriMARES, where it was possible to take advantage of previous designs to achieve a custom solution in a short time. We describe the initial requirements for the underwater system, we present the main solutions adopted for the vehicle subsystems, and we provide some data from the first in-water tests, performed only 6 months after the beginning of the project.