Learning by demonstration applied to underwater intervention

Performing subsea intervention tasks is a challenge due to the complexities of the underwater domain. We propose to use a learning by demonstraition algorithm to intuitively teach an intervention autonomous underwater vehicle (IAUV) how to perform a given task. Taking as an input few operator demonstrations, the algorithm generalizes the task into a model and simultaneously controls the vehicle and the manipulator (using 8 degrees of freedom) to reproduce the task. A complete framework has been implemented in order to integrate the LbD algorithm with the different onboard sensors and actuators. A valve turning intervention task is used to validate the full framework through real experiments conducted in a water tank.