Mechanical actuator for biomimetic propulsion and the effect of the caudal fin elasticity on the swimming performance

This paper presents a mechanical actuator for the biomimetic propulsion of swimming devices and the experimental study of the effect of the caudal fin elasticity on the overall performance. The design of the proposed drive allows the DC motor to operate at constant speed, so all the power of the motor is spent only for the motion of the caudal fin. A prototype of the actuator, in which the caudal fin serves as a driving element, is manufactured and tested in both laboratory and natural conditions. The swimming speed, the thrust efficiency and the maneuverability are evaluated for caudal fins with different stiffness. The caudal fin whose rigidity varies relative to both vertical and horizontal cross-section, exhibits the best performance. The achieved results also confirm that the proposed actuator could be of great interest to applications in the field of underwater operation, ocean investigation and environmental protection.

[1]  Long Wang,et al.  Development of an artificial fish-like robot and its application in cooperative transportation , 2008 .

[2]  Alvo Aabloo,et al.  Design of a semiautonomous biomimetic underwater vehicle for environmental monitoring , 2005, 2005 International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation.

[3]  Kai Xiao,et al.  A micro-robot fish with embedded SMA wire actuated flexible biomimetic fin , 2008 .

[4]  P.R. Bandyopadhyay,et al.  Trends in biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicles , 2005, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[5]  Dewen Hu,et al.  A bionic neural network for fish-robot locomotion , 2006 .

[6]  Joel W. Burdick,et al.  Nonlinear control methods for planar carangiform robot fish locomotion , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[7]  M. Triantafyllou,et al.  Wake mechanics for thrust generation in oscillating foils , 1991 .

[8]  K. H. Low,et al.  Modelling and parametric study of modular undulating fin rays for fish robots , 2009 .

[9]  John M. Dettmers,et al.  Estimating Mortality Rates of Adult Fish from Entrainment through the Propellers of River Towboats , 2003 .

[10]  George V. Lauder,et al.  Hydrodynamics of Undulatory Propulsion , 2005 .

[11]  Long Wang,et al.  Coordinated Transport by Multiple Biomimetic Robotic Fish in Underwater Environment , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

[12]  Weishan Chen,et al.  Research on the Swing of the Body of Two-Joint Robot Fish , 2008 .

[13]  Huosheng Hu,et al.  A 3D simulator for autonomous robotic fish , 2004, Int. J. Autom. Comput..

[14]  Qin Yan,et al.  Parametric Research of Experiments on a Carangiform Robotic Fish , 2008 .

[15]  Junzhi Yu,et al.  Development of a biomimetic robotic fish and its control algorithm , 2004, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part B.

[16]  Tan Min,et al.  Motion Control Algorithms for a Free-swimming Biomimetic Robot Fish 1) , 2005 .

[17]  Hong Chen,et al.  Hydrodynamic Analysis and Simulation of a Swimming Bionic Robot Tuna , 2007 .

[18]  Agus Budiyono,et al.  Design and Implementation of Paired Pectoral Fins Locomotion of Labriform Fish Applied to a Fish Robot , 2009 .

[19]  Daibing Zhang,et al.  Design of an artificial bionic neural network to control fish-robot's locomotion , 2008, Neurocomputing.

[20]  Zhiqiang Cao,et al.  The Design and Implementation of a Biomimetic Robot Fish , 2008 .

[21]  Hoon Cheol Park,et al.  Effect of an artificial caudal fin on the performance of a biomimetic fish robot propelled by piezoelectric actuators , 2007 .

[22]  Huosheng Hu,et al.  Biological inspiration: From carangiform fish to multi-joint robotic fish , 2010 .

[23]  Huosheng Hu,et al.  Novel mechatronics design for a robotic fish , 2005, 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[24]  Michael Sfakiotakis,et al.  Review of fish swimming modes for aquatic locomotion , 1999 .

[25]  M. Triantafyllou,et al.  Optimal Thrust Development in Oscillating Foils with Application to Fish Propulsion , 1993 .