Mechanization of diving operations is necessary for safer and more efficient underwater construction works in port areas.
Teleoperated underwater construction machines are at present under developing. The detection system as well as the operation one is required for these machines. One of the problems to be solved is that conventional TV camera system is useless in water because of turbidity. Haptic information is introduced to help controlling construction machines substituting for visual information.
　In 2003,the experiment was carried out of leveling unknown gravel terrain to a certain height using a land model of the teleoperated backhoe. In 2004,we examined the ability of the machine experimentally on a real sea area. Experimental results show that accuracy of leveling are＋17cm±8cm in situ,and the construction efficiency of the system is 25.6㎡/h.
　It is proved that concept of authors' proposed system is enough effective for the operation in such turbid water as the visual information is not available,and it has sufficient performance for actual construction works.