A novel jellyfish-like biomimetic microrobot

Biomimetic microrobots with multiple degrees of freedom that can swim smoothly in water are important topics in the field of underwater monitoring for applications such as pollution detection and video mapping. We proposed a new jellyfish-like biomimetic underwater microrobot using shape memory actuator (SMA). It moves like a jellyfish when floating and sinking and has two pectoral fins to realize the swimming motion. We developed a prototype of this jellyfish-like biomimetic microrobot and evaluated the floating and swimming speeds experimentally. This microrobot had better performance in floating than the previous model did. Also it could obtain 50 mm/s of swimming speed. It had better flexibility, balance and load ability than its predecessor.

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