Autonomous underwater vehicle for aiding a scuba diver

1. A system for use by a diver during an underwater dive, the system comprising:

an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) comprising:

an AUV acoustic transceiver;

a plurality of AUV sensors;

a propulsion unit;

a processor for determining dive information and diver information responsive to data from one or both of the AUV acoustic transceiver and the plurality of AUV sensors;

one or more cameras positioned on the AUV to record multiple images of a region surrounding the AUV during a dive, such that when the multiple images are stitched together a spherical image is produced; and

diver equipment carried by the diver, the diver equipment comprising:

a plurality of diver sensors; and

a diver acoustic transceiver for receiving sensed information from the plurality of diver sensors and communicating the sensed information to the AUV acoustic transceiver, the diver acoustic transceiver for receiving information from the AUV acoustic transceiver.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a component for detecting that the AUV has entered water, wherein the component comprises a pair of electrodes, wherein water between the pair of electrodes shorts the electrodes thereby producing a signal indicating that the vehicle has entered the water, wherein the AUV acoustic transceiver, the plurality of AUV sensors, the propulsion unit, the processor, and the one or more cameras are activated upon the component detecting that the AUV has entered the water.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the dive information or the diver information comprise at least diver's location and diver's bottom time.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein data provided by the plurality of AUV sensors is used to determine one or more of a distance to the diver, azimuth angle of the diver relative to a reference horizontal axis, and declination of the diver relative to a reference vertical axis.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of AUV sensors are separated by a known distance, and wherein arrival time of a signal at each sensor of the plurality of AUV sensors is determined and used to determine a location of the diver, the signal sent from the diver acoustic transceiver.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein a diver location in three-dimensional space is determined based on an azimuth angle to the diver relative to a reference horizontal axis including the AUV, and further based on diver depth information and AUV depth information.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more cameras supply images of diver gestures to the processor for interpreting the gestures and controlling operation of the AUV responsive thereto.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the AUV and the diver equipment each comprise an optical transmitter and an optical receiver for communicating information between the AUV and the diver.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the AUV determines diver ascension safety stops and a duration of each stop, and wherein during diver ascension the AUV holds a depth at each safety stop for a determined duration, such that the diver can follow the AUV to each safety stop and hold at each safety stop for the determined duration.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the AUV tracks the diver and maintains a predetermined distance from the diver.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein if the AUV loses contact with the diver, the AUV maintains a current position for a predetermined duration during which the AUV transmits a signal for receiving by the diver, and after the predetermined duration has elapsed, the AUV ascends and emits audible and visual signals.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the spherical image is centered at the AUV.

13. A system for use by a diver, during an underwater dive, the system comprising:

a tracking component for tracking a location of a diver;

a propulsion component responsive to the tracking component for maintaining an AUV at a distance from the diver;

one or more cameras on the AUV for capturing video images of regions surrounding the AUV; and

an image processing component for stitching the video images to create a spherical image.

14. The system of claim 13 the one or more cameras comprising two cameras each having a hemispherical field of view.

15. The system of claim 13 the tracking component comprising an acoustic transceiver for transmitting acoustic signals to the diver and for receiving acoustic reflections from the diver.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the spherical image is centered at the AUV.

17. An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) comprising:

an acoustic sensor;

a plurality of image sensors;

a propulsion unit;

a processor for controlling the propulsion unit to track a diver; and

wherein images from the plurality of image sensors are stitched together to form a spherical image for viewing using a virtual reality device, the spherical image centered at the AUV.

18. The autonomous underwater vehicle of claim 17 wherein tracking the diver comprises maintaining the diver within a field of view of one or more of the plurality of image sensors.

19. The autonomous underwater vehicle of claim 17 wherein one or more of the plurality of image sensors comprises a camera having a 360-degrees field of view.

20. The autonomous underwater vehicle of claim 17 for tracking a diver and maintaining a predetermined distance from the diver, and wherein if the AUV loses contact with the diver, the AUV maintains a current position for a predetermined duration during which the AUV transmits a signal for receiving by the diver, and after the predetermined duration has elapsed, the AUV ascends and emits audible and visual warning signals.