ROAZ and ROAZ II Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design and Implementation

International Lifesaving Congress 2007, La Coruna, Spain, December, 2007

The design and implementation of the ROAZ and ROAZ II autonomous surface vehicles (ASV) is presented. These systems were developed at Autonomous Systems Lab, ISEP/IPP – Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto under a research program in marine robotics. With multiple applications either in river and estuarine environments or in the sea, the system applications in search and rescue operations are addressed and were taken in consideration for the overall system design. Mechanical design issues are discussed. Hardware, software and implementation status are described along with the control and navigation system architecture. The real time vision processing system is described and results are presented in operational scenario.