An autonomous surface-aerial marsupial robotic team for riverine environmental monitoring: Benefiting from coordinated aerial, underwater, and surface level perception

Abstract

This paper presents RIVERWATCH, an au- tonomous surface-aerial marsupial robotic team for riverine environmental monitoring. The robotic system is composed of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) piggybacking a multi- rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. The ASV provides the team with long- range transportation in all-weather conditions, whereas the UAV assures an augmented perception of the environment. The coordinated aerial, underwater, and surface level perception allows the team to assess navigation cost from the near field to the far field, which is key for safe navigation and environmental monitoring data gathering. The robotic system is validated on a set of field trials.