GARBI: a low-cost underwater vehicle

The progress on robotics, computer technology, sensors and perception syste ms has produced great advances in the field of underwater robotics, in the research and development of both autonomous ROVs and AUVs. Unfortunately, t his progress has driven to the use of very expensive devices and, consequen tly, the development of high-cost underwater vehicles. As an alternative ap proach, the GARBI underwater robot has been designed as a low-cost ROV deve loped for underwater applications in shallow water environments. This paper describes the underwater vehicle and the endowed systems, the robot's goal s and its main applications. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.