Review of floating object manipulation by autonomous multi-vessel systems

The regulatory endorsement of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and support pivotal shipping market players in recent years motivate investigation potential role that autonomous vessels play industry. As complexity scale envisioned applications increase, research works gradually transform focus from single-vessel systems to multi-vessel systems. Thus, applied industry are becoming a promising direction. One typical directions is floating object manipulation by multiple tugboats. This paper offers comprehensive literature review existing on Based prior knowledge problems multi-robot systems, four ways maritime summarized: attaching, caging, pushing, towing. advantages disadvantages each way discussed, including its application scenarios. Moreover, aspects control objective, architecture, collision avoidance operation, disturbances consideration, involved vessel analyzed for gaining insight into approaches solving these problems. Finally, challenges future highlighted give possible inspiration.