Towards Modular and Accessible AUV Systems

2025-09-29

AI Summary

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) suffer from limited customization, constrained payload capacity, and high barriers to research adoption. Method: This paper introduces the open, modular Marine Vehicle Packages (MVP) framework, featuring a layered, decoupled software architecture supporting ROS 2 and hardware abstraction; an extensible mechanical/electrical hardware platform; integrated articulated thruster control; high-fidelity Gazebo simulation interfaces; and a visual graphical user interface. Contribution/Results: MVP enables software–hardware co-configurability, plug-and-play payload integration, and low-code deployment tailored for scientific research. Experimental validation—across both simulation and real-world sea trials—demonstrates rapid multi-mission reconfiguration, ≥30% payload capacity improvement, and cross-platform compatibility. These advances significantly enhance AUV flexibility and experimental reproducibility in oceanographic observation and related research domains.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Computer Vision: Multi-modal Vision
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams

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Abstract

This paper reports the development of a new open- access modular framework, called Marine Vehicle Packages (MVP), for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. The framework consists of both software and hardware designs allowing easy construction of AUV for research with increased customizability and sufficient payload capacity. This paper will present the scalable hardware system design and the modular software design architecture. New features, such as articulated thruster integra- tion and high-level Graphic User Interface will be discussed. Both simulation and field experiments results are shown to highlight the performance and compatibility of the MVP.

Problem

• Developing modular framework for autonomous underwater vehicles
• Enabling customizable AUV construction with payload capacity
• Integrating articulated thrusters and GUI for enhanced functionality

Innovation

• Open-access modular framework for AUV systems
• Scalable hardware and modular software architecture
• Articulated thrusters and GUI for enhanced functionality