Lamprey Robots

We have developed a biologically based underwater, autonomous vehicle modeled after a simple vertebrate, the sea lamprey. The robot consists of a cylindrical Plexiglas electronics bay with a polyurethane undulator actuated by shape memory alloy artificial muscles. Sensors include a compass, pitch and roll inclinometers and sonar rangers, the signals of which are quantized into a labeled line code. Behavioral parameters are reverse engineered from the behavior of the target organisms. Fig. 1 Lamprey Robot Prototype