HullBUG Technology Development for Underwater Hull Cleaning

The Hull Bio-Mimetic Underwater Grooming (HullBUG) Vehicle System under development holds the potential to dramatically change current hull cleaning methods and their environmental impacts. Frequent use of the HullBUG, a small autonomous cleaning device, on the hulls of Navy ships in port by applying light cleaning pressure or grooming results in a cost effective solution to the underwater fouling problem. As part of overall HullBUG development the Grooming Tool is an integral part of the system. This tool and variations of it have been used by Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) during several years of testing activities. FIT was assigned the task to come up with a set of parameters that FIT would want in the next generation tool. SeaRobotics was assigned the task of developing a grooming tool that would address those parameters. After review by Navy and FIT personnel the agreed to design was built and tested. This report documents that effort and several other sub-system activities that ran in parallel contributing to the overall progression of the HullBUG design. The original document contains color images.