Robotic tools and systems for man/machine cooperation in underwater archaeology

The paper describes the architecture and the features of an advanced, robotic platform for underwater exploration and intervention. The characteristics of the robotic platform make it suitable for use in the field of underwater archaeology, where cooperation between man and machine can represent a winning solution to overcome the difficulties of operating in harsh but fragile environments. The use of automatic techniques for navigation, guidance and control of marine vehicles, for managing communication under and over the sea surface, for processing and interpreting large amounts of nonhomogeneous, asynchronous data is the key ingredient in the development of the robotic platform. Test and experiments in field missions represent the main validation method for the hardware and software solutions that implement such techniques. Reference is made to a number of recent papers and to the activity carried on in the framework of structured research projects.