Underwater legged robotics: review and perspectives.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Marine Engineering
• Bio-inspired Design

Background:

• The ocean's growing economic and social importance necessitates advanced underwater operations.
• Traditional underwater robots (ROVs, AUVs, crawlers) have limitations in close environmental interaction.
• Legged robots present a bioinspired solution for versatile, stable, and low-impact underwater locomotion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the emerging field of underwater legged robotics.
• To review state-of-the-art underwater legged robot prototypes.
• To identify future technological and scientific challenges in this domain.

Main Methods:

• Recap of traditional underwater robotics advancements.
• Overview of terrestrial legged robotics evolution.
• Comprehensive state-of-the-art review of underwater legged robots, focusing on interaction, sensing, actuation, control, and navigation.

Main Results:

• Underwater legged robots demonstrate potential for versatile multi-terrain locomotion.
• These robots offer high stability and minimal environmental disturbance compared to traditional designs.
• Innovations in interaction, sensing, actuation, control, and navigation are highlighted.

Conclusions:

• Underwater legged robots represent a promising new paradigm for marine exploration and intervention.
• Further research is needed to address challenges in autonomy, navigation, and specific marine applications.
• Comparison with traditional robots reveals significant research opportunities and potential use cases in marine science.