Evaluation of an Autonomous Surface Robot Equipped with a Transformable Mobility Mechanism for Efficient Mobility Control

2025-08-07

AI Summary

To address the challenge of simultaneously optimizing mobility and energy efficiency in autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) for long-term aquatic environmental monitoring, this paper proposes a deformable dual-mode locomotion mechanism enabling dynamic switching between station-keeping and transit operational modes. By integrating a reconfigurable mechanical architecture with a coordinated dual-mode control system, the design achieves joint optimization of energy consumption and speed in a mission-driven manner. Field experiments involving round-trip navigation demonstrate that the transit mode reduces energy consumption by 10% and shortens travel time by 5% compared to station-keeping mode, significantly enhancing inspection adaptability and overall operational efficiency. This work represents the first integration of morphological adaptability with dual-mode control on an ASV platform, establishing a novel paradigm for sustained, high-efficiency environmental monitoring.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Efficiency and scalability of Web search engines

Abstract

Efficient mobility and power consumption are critical for autonomous water surface robots in long-term water environmental monitoring. This study develops and evaluates a transformable mobility mechanism for a water surface robot with two control modes: station-keeping and traveling to improve energy efficiency and maneuverability. Field experiments show that, in a round-trip task between two points, the traveling mode reduces power consumption by 10% and decreases the total time required for travel by 5% compared to the station-keeping mode. These results confirm the effectiveness of the transformable mobility mechanism for enhancing operational efficiency in patrolling on water surface.

Problem

• Develops transformable mobility mechanism for water robots
• Improves energy efficiency and maneuverability in monitoring
• Reduces power consumption and travel time effectively

Innovation

• Transformable mobility mechanism for robots
• Dual control modes for efficiency
• Reduced power consumption by 10%