Aquatic Surface Robots: the State of the Art, Challenges and Possibilities

In this paper, a survey of the state of the art, challenges, and possibilities for aquatic surface robots is presented. To this end, a survey and classification of aquatic surface robots is first outlined. Then, different levels of autonomy are identified for this typology of robots and categorised into environmental complexity, mission complexity, and external system independence. From this perspective, a step-wise approach is adopted on how to increment aquatic surface robots abilities within guidance, navigation, and control in order to target the different levels of autonomy. Possibilities and challenges for designing aquatic surface robots as carriers for conducting research activities are discussed. The main goal of this paper is to further increase global efforts to realise the wide range of possible applications offered by aquatic surface robots and to provide an up-to-date reference as a benchmark for new research and development in this field.