Adaptable control for autonomous maritime vehicles

A method of autonomously controlling an underwater vehicle, the method comprising:

• executing a first operating state of a plurality of operating states associated with the underwater vehicle;
• determining that exit criteria of the first operating state is met and that entrance criteria of a second operating state of the plurality of operating states is met;
• and
• in response to the determining, transitioning from executing the first operating state to executing the second operating state;
• wherein the plurality of operating states comprises a first portion of operating states associated with a first task for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform, a second portion of operating states associated with a second task for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform, and a third portion of operating states associated with both the first and second tasks for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform;
• and
• wherein the underwater vehicle is a first underwater vehicle, and the method further comprises:
• detecting the presence of a second underwater vehicle in proximity to the first underwater vehicle;
• teaming with the second underwater vehicle;
• in response to the teaming, activating one or more multi-agent states of the plurality of operating states;
• and
• executing one or more of the one or more multi-agent states.

A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, result in a plurality of operations for autonomously controlling an underwater vehicle, the operations comprising:

• executing a first operating state of a plurality of operating states associated with the underwater vehicle;
• determining that exit criteria of the first operating state is met and that entrance criteria of a second operating state of the plurality of operating states is met;
• and
• in response to the determining, transitioning from executing the first operating state to executing the second operating state;
• wherein the plurality of operating states comprises a first portion of operating states associated with a first task for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform, a second portion of operating states associated with a second task for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform, and a third portion of operating states associated with both the first and second tasks for which the underwater vehicle is configured to perform;
• and
• wherein the underwater vehicle is a first underwater vehicle, and the operations further comprise:
• detecting the presence of a second underwater vehicle in proximity to the first underwater vehicle;
• teaming with the second underwater vehicle;
• in response to the teaming, activating one or more multi-agent states of the plurality of operating states;
• and
• executing one or more of the one or more multi-agent states.