Development of a Vertical Self-balancing Experimental Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are operator and tethered umbilical free. Ground motion as a result of seismic activity could result in underwater slope instability and land slide. Other geo-hazard issue such as shallow gas hydrates poses threats to human diver. Therefore, after the process of several design concepts generation and evaluation, the concept of revolutionary human-like Vertical Self-balancing AUV was conceived and adopted for this research work. This paper presents the development of a Vertical Self-balancing Experimental AUV and its initial experimental results