This book deals with the main control aspects in underwater manipulation tasks. The mathematical model with significant impact on the control strategy is discussed. The problem of controlling a 6-degrees-of-freedoms autonomous underwater vehicle is deeply investigated and a survey of fault detection/tolerant strategies for unmanned underwater vehicles is provided; experimental results obtained with the vehicle ODIN are presented. The presence of a manipulator is further studied in the aspects of kinematic, dynamic and interaction control. The purpose of this second edition is to add material not covered in the first edition as well as streamline and improve the previous material.

The purpose of this Second Edition is to add material not covered in the First Edition as well as streamline and improve the previous material.

The organization of the book has been substantially modified, an introductory Chapter containing the state of the art has been considered; the modeling Chapter is substantially unmodified. In Chapter 3 the problem of controlling a 6-Degrees-Of-Freedoms (DOFs) Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is investigated. Chapter 4 is a new Chapter devoted at a survey of fault detection/tolerant strategies for ROVs/AUVs, it is mainly based on the Chapter published in [10]. The following Chapter (Chapter 5) reports experimental results obtained with the vehicle ODIN. The following 3 Chapters, from Chapter 6 to Chapter 8 are devoted at presenting kinematic, dynamic and interaction control strategies for Underwater Vehicle Manipulator Systems (UVMSs); new material has been added thanks also to several colleagues who provided me with valuable material, I warmly thank all of them. The content of Chapter 9 is new in this Second Edition and reports preliminary results on the emerging topic of coordinated control of platoon of AUVs. Finally, the bibliography has been updated.

The reader might be interested in knowing what she/he will not find in this book. Since the core of the book is the coordinated control of manipulators mounted on underwater vehicles, control of non-holonomic vehicles is not dealt with; this is an important topic also in view of the large number of existing torpedo-like vehicles. Another important aspect concerns the sensorial apparatus, both from the technological point of view and from the algorithmic aspect; most of the AUVs are equipped with redundant sensorial systems required both for localization/navigation purposes and for fault detection/tolerant capabilities. Actuation is mainly obtained by means of thrusters; those are still object of research for the modeling characteristics and might be the object of improvement in terms of dynamic response.