2025/11/11 by Nelson Durrant, Braden Meyers, Durrant, Nelson +13
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Multiagent Systems (cs.MA) #Robotics (cs.RO) #Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization #Underwater Acoustics Research #Underwater Vehicles and Communication Systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.08822
openalex publication_date 2025/11/11 · openalex created_date 2025/11/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Real-world underwater testing for multi-agent autonomy presents substantial financial and engineering challenges. In this work, we introduce the Configurable Underwater Group of Autonomous Robots (CoUGARs) as a low-cost, configurable autonomous-underwater-vehicle (AUV) platform for multi-agent autonomy research. The base design costs less than 3,000 USD (as of May 2025) and is based on commercially-available and 3D-printed parts, enabling quick customization for various sensor payloads and configurations. Our current expanded model is equipped with a doppler velocity log (DVL) and ultra-short-baseline (USBL) acoustic array/transducer to support research on acoustic-based cooperative localization. State estimation, navigation, and acoustic communications software has been developed and deployed using a containerized software stack and is tightly integrated with the HoloOcean simulator. The system was tested both in simulation and via in-situ field trials in Utah lakes and reservoirs.