System for recovering autonomous underwater or surface water vehicles

A system for recovering, in a receiving and storage structure (3), an autonomous vehicle (1, 6) in an aquatic environment, the autonomous vehicle (1, 6) having an external shell, the receiving and storage structure (3) comprising an access opening (12) through which the autonomous vehicle passes to enter a housing of said receiving and storage structure (3) or to exit therefrom along a main direction of access (13) to the receiving and storage structure (3), wherein between two and six drive members (4) for driving the autonomous vehicle (1, 6) are arranged in the access opening (12), each drive member (4) comprising at least one motorized movable drive element (7), which comes against the shell of the autonomous vehicle (1, 6) and which enables the autonomous vehicle (1, 6) to be driven into or out of the receiving and storage structure (3),

• said at least one motorized movable element of each drive member (4) being a track (7) consisting of an endless belt extending between an internal end and an external end of each drive member (4) and configured to be set in motion, wherein for each drive member the internal end is located in the housing of the receiving and storage structure (3) and the external end is located outside the receiving and storage structure (3),
• wherein each drive member (4) is swivelling between a recovery waiting position and a drive position, the recovery waiting position of each drive member (4) being obtained passively, each drive member (4) being urged by a resilient element (14) toward the recovery waiting position in the absence of any other stress:
• in the recovery waiting position, each drive member (4) is inclined with respect to the direction of access (13), the internal end of each drive member (4) being closer to the direction of access (13) than the external end of each drive member (4), and in the absence of applied stress other than the resilient element (14), the drive members (4) are then inclined in such a way that the separation/distance between their facing internal ends is lower than the width or diameter of the autonomous vehicle,
• in the drive position, each drive member (4) is positioned in such a way as to be applied against the shell of the autonomous vehicle (1, 6) in order to drive the autonomous vehicle,
• wherein each drive member further has a vehicle storage position in which the autonomous vehicle has entered the receiving and storage structure and is stored thereinto, in the vehicle storage position each drive member being inclined with respect to the direction of access, the external end of each drive member being closer to the direction of access than the internal end of each drive member in order to close the access opening on the rear,
• wherein the endless belt part of the track that comes opposite the autonomous vehicle shell is longitudinally curved between the internal end and the external end of each drive member, in the absence of an application against the shell of the autonomous vehicle (1, 6), and
• wherein the endless belt part of the track that comes opposite the autonomous vehicle shell between the internal end and the external end of each drive member rests on a frame of each drive member through wheels mounted on springs or shock absorbers.