Inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) operations on underwater infrastructure remain costly and time-intensive because fully teleoperated remote operated vehicle s(ROVs) lack the range and dexterity necessary for precise cooperative underwater manipulation, and the alternative of using professional divers is ruled out due to the risk involved. This work presents and experimentally validates an autonomous, dual-I-AUV (Intervention–Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) system capable of assembling rigid pipeline segments through coordinated actions in a confined underwater workspace. The first I-AUV is a Girona 500 (4-DoF vehicle motion, pitch and roll stable) fitted with multiple payload cameras and a 6-DoF Reach Bravo 7 arm, giving the vehicle 10 total DoF. The second I-AUV is a BlueROV2 Heavy equipped with a Reach Alpha 5 arm, likewise yielding 10 DoF. The workflow comprises (i) detection and grasping of a coupler pipe section, (ii) synchronized teleoperation to an assembly start pose, and (iii) assembly using a kinematic controller that exploits the Girona 500’s full 10 DoF, while the BlueROV2 holds position and orientation to stabilize the workspace. Validation took place in a 12 m × 8 m × 5 m water tank. Results show that the paired I-AUVs can autonomously perform precision pipeline assembly in real water conditions, representing a significant step toward fully automated subsea construction and maintenance.

Autonomous underwater inspection and maintenance of pipelines in hazardous environments remains a challenging task due to limited accessibility, complex interaction requirements, and the need for reliable sensing in constrained conditions. In particular, the inspection and material degradation assessment of polymer pipelines used in radioactivewater environments require robotic systems capable of performing both navigation and controlled physical interaction. This article presents the design, integration and experimental validation of an underwater mobile manipulator prototype, developed from scratch within the European El-PEACETOLERO project. The system is conceived for inspection and material-degradation testing of polymer pipelines used in radioactive water environments, supporting the development of embedded optoelectronic sensors for in-situ assessment of pipeline aging. The robot can operate both inside and outside pipes and is capable of submersion up to 200 m (currently limited to 25 m by the umbilical cable). Its reconfigurable design allows the use of either wheels or tracks, adapting to various inspection scenarios. The contributions of this work cover (i) the mechatronic architecture of the reconfigurable manipulator platform, (ii) a force-controlled interaction scheme for pipe inspection and aging testing, (iii) a high-level autonomy framework based on Behavior trees for mission sequencing and a Task-Priority algorithm for redundancy resolution in the over-actuated system. The system has been experimentally validated in a 5 m-deep water tank at the CIRTESU research facilities, demonstrating reliable autonomous operation under representative underwater conditions. These results highlight the potential of this prototype as a versatile robotic platform for the autonomous inspection and aging diagnosis of submerged pipelines in constrained and hazardous environments.

Este artículo describe el desarrollo de un sistema de teleoperación alámbrica para un robot subacuático basado en ROS 2 Humble. Se implementa un nodo de control que emula dinámica de primer orden, combinando aceleración proporcional y rozamiento, y publica comandos PWM para dirigir la velocidad y el ángulo de la cámara, así como para activar un electroimán. La interfaz de usuario integra nodos de teleoperación con joystick y herramientas de visualización en tiempo real. Validamos el sistema en ensayos de diez minutos en tanque, obteniendo estabilidad direccional, un error medio de seguimiento inferior al 2 % y latencias compatibles con 20 Hz. Estos resultados sientan las bases para futuras extensiones—comunicación acústica bidireccional y simulación de alta fidelidad—que mejoren la autonomía y robustez de la teleoperación submarina.

Autonomous inspection and repair of aquaculture nets remains an important challenge in modern fish farming, as undetected structural damage can lead to fish escapes, economic losses, and environmental impacts. Although ROVs and advances in computer vision have improved defect detection, physical repair is still limited by patching systems with low adaptability and predefined geometries. This workpresents the initial design of a new underwater end-effector for repairing tears in aquaculture nets using zip-ties, mounted on a low-cost BlueROV2 platform. The mechanism combines a Newton gripper and a SER2020 servomotor to enable coordinated underwater manipulation. Preliminary results show successful placement and closure of the zip-tie on damaged nets, validating the feasibility of the approach. Futurevalidation will be carried out in the CIRTESU tank using real nets under semi-realistic underwater conditions.