Optimum positioning of an underwater intervention robot to maximise workspace manipulability

A positioning strategy, based on the type of task to be carried out, is proposed. Inspection of a subsea weld joint, using a compact URV and a specially designed and optimised, dexterous, 7 d.o.f., manipulator, is considered as a test case. Dexterity of manipulator at the target location is taken as the optimisation criterion. As a measure of manipulator dexterity, the condition number of the manipulator is adopted here. Manipulator joint limits and workspace constraints are taken into account. Theoretical analysis and simulation results are presented.