Effect of an artificial caudal fin on the performance of a biomimetic fish robot propelled by piezoelectric actuators (original) (raw)
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Imitating the style of the motion of fish mail in nature, this paper design and develop a single joint tail fin-propelled small robotic fish system. To meet the design specifications of the premise. The whole design process is divided into mechanical design, software and hardware design. The three-dimensional design software Solidworks is used for mechanical structural modeling, interference check and motion simulation tests. Arduino integrating development environment is used for compiling and writing controlling procedures and hardware circuit board is selected to complete motor control, remote communications and other tasks. After repeated experiments optimization, the high propulsive efficiency tail fin is designed at last and maximum sailing speed, radius of turning circle ,the maximum floating and diving speed of robotic fish under the promote of caudal fin is tested. At the same time, we use the appropriate choice of remote communication technologies to achieve free remote control of the machine fish when the depth of the water is certain. Additionally, the robot fish shell is landscaped and other items are tested, such as immersion test that under water for a long time and the test of the continuation of the journey. Testing shows that all items meet the requirements.
There have been increased interests in the research on mechanical and control system of underwater vehicles in the recent past. These ongoing research efforts are motivated by more pervasive applications of such vehicles including seabed oil and gas explorations, scientific deep ocean surveys, military purposes, ecological and waters environmental studies, and also for entertainments. However, the performance of underwater vehicles with screw type propellers is not prospective in terms of its efficiency and maneuverability. The main weaknesses of this kind of propellers are the production of vortices and sudden generation of thrust forces which make the control of the position and motion difficult. On the other hand, fishes and other aquatic animals are efficient swimmers, posses high maneuverability, are able to follow trajectories, can efficiently stabilize themselves in currents and surges, create less wakes than currently used underwater vehicle, and also have a noiseless propulsion. The fish’s locomotion mechanism is mainly controlled by its caudal fin and paired pectoral fins part. They are classified into BCF (Body and/or Caudal Fin) and MPF (Median and/or paired Pectoral Fins). The study of highly efficient swimming mechanisms of fish can inspire a better underwater vehicles thruster design and its mechanism. There have not been many studies on underwater vehicles or fish robots using paired pectoral fins as thruster. The work presented in this paper represents a contribution in this area covering study, design and implementation of locomotion mechanisms of paired pectoral fins in a fish robot. The performance and viability of the biomimetic method for underwater vehicles are highlighted through in-water experiment of a robotic fish.
A Review on Development of Robotic Fish
In this paper, types of fish swimming propulsion and the mechanics of fish locomotion are reviewed. Body and/or caudal fin (BCF) locomotion and median and/or paired fin (MPF) locomotion are two main categories of fish swimming propulsion. The swimming and characteristics of each propulsion mode are discussed for the development of fish robotics. Development of robotic fish propulsion involves several aspects such as shape of the robot, pattern of movement, hydro-dynamics, control system, location on the machine, mechanical properties and material properties. Various structures and materials used in existing fish robots and significance of selection are reviewed. Several actuators including conventional actuators have been considered. Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC), piezoceramic materials, shape memory alloy (SMA) wires and pneumatic soft actuator have been recently attempted and their unique characteristics, advantages and limitations are discussed. Appropriate control system needs to be designed for proper propulsion of fish robots, hence various control system used in the past are presented. Finally, improvements and alternative technique for maneuvering the vessel are proposed.
Biorobotic fins for investigations of fish locomotion
2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2009
Experimental analyses of propulsion in freelyswimming fishes have led to the development of self-propelling pectoral and caudal fin robotic devices. These biorobotic models have been used in conjunction with biological and numerical studies to investigate the effects of the fin's kinematic patterns and structural properties on forces and flows. Data from both biorobotic fins will be presented and discussed in terms of the utility of using robotic models for understanding fish locomotor dynamics. Through the use of the robotic fins, it was shown that subtle changes to the kinematics and/or the mechanical properties of fin rays can impact significantly the magnitude, direction, and time course of the 3d forces used in propulsion and maneuvers.
A motor-less and gear-less bio-mimetic robotic fish design
2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2011
In this paper, we describe our current work on bio-inspired locomotion systems using a deformable structure and smart materials, concretely Shape Memory Alloys, exploring the possibility of building motor-less and gear-less robots. A swimming underwater robot has been developed whose movements are generated using such actuators, used for bending the backbone of the fish, which in turn causes a change on the curvature of the body. This paper focuses on how standard swimming patterns can be reproduced with the proposed design, using an actuation dynamics model identified in prior work. I. INTRODUCTION Actuation technology in robotics is basically centered on two kind of actuators: electric motors/servomotors and pneumatic/hydraulic actuators. In mobile robotics, the former is mostly used, with exceptions being e.g. large legged robots. The (rotatory) motion of the motors is transmitted to the effectors through gearboxes, bearings, belts and other mechanical devices in the case that linear actuation is needed. Although applied with success in uncountable robotic devices, such systems can be complex, heavy and bulky 1. In underwater robots, propellers are most used for locomotion an maneuvering. Propellers however may have problems of cavitation, noise, efflciency, can get tangled with vegetation and other objects and can be dangerous for sea life. Underwater creatures are capable of high performance movements in water. Thus, underwater robot design based on the mechanism of fish locomotion appears to be a promising approach. Over the past few years, researches have been developing underwater robots based on underwater creatures swimming mechanism [1], [2], [3], [4]. Yet, most of them still rely on servomotor technology and a structure made of a discrete number of linear elements, exceptions being the Airacuda by FESTO, which adopts pneumatic actuators, and the MIT fish [5]. Such fish has a continuous soft body, and a single motor generates a wave that is propagated backwards in order to genérate propulsión. Alternative actuation technology in active or "smart" materials has opened new horizons as far as simplicity, weight and dimensions. New materials such as piezo-electric flber composite, electro-active polymers and shape memory alloys (SMA) are being investigated as a promising alternative to ^obotuna, a robot fish developed at MIT in 1994, had 2,843 parts controlled by six motors (source: MIT News,
Dynamic Analysis of a Robotic Fish Propelled by Flexible Folding Pectoral Fins
Robotica, 2019
SUMMARYBiological fish can create high forward swimming speed due to change of thrust/drag area of pectoral fins between power stroke and recovery stroke in rowing mode. In this paper, we proposed a novel type of folding pectoral fins for the fish robot, which provides a simple approach in generating effective thrust only through one degree of freedom of fin actuator. Its structure consists of two elemental fin panels for each pectoral fin that connects to a hinge base through the flexible joints. The Morison force model is adopted to discover the relationship of the dynamic interaction between fin panels and surrounding fluid. An experimental platform for the robot motion using the pectoral fin with different flexible joints was built to validate the proposed design. The results express that the performance of swimming velocity and turning radius of the robot are enhanced effectively. The forward swimming velocity can reach 0.231 m/s (0.58 BL/s) at the frequency near 0.75 Hz. By co...
Maǧallaẗ al-abḥāṯ al-handasiyyaẗ, 2022
To explore the seabed as well as the depth, to perform the various tasks in an underwater environment, to study the behavior of aquatic animals many researchers and scientists have developed underwater autonomous vehicles using different techniques. After going through all the robotic fishes developed in the last decade, we have developed a novel way and technique to enhance the speed of the robotic fishes under a certain range (30-40cm) of robotic body length. A crank-slotted slider and lever mechanism-based mechanism and fin have been designed to produce a forward thrust up to 25gmf. In the above system, the rotational motion produced by the DC motor is translated to oscillatory motion using a crank-slotted slider mechanism. The mechanical advantage is enhanced by the use of a certain length of the lever. Finally, for the given system a mathematical fin formula is introduced, tested, and implemented.
Bio-inspired Compliant Robotic Fish: Design and Experiments
This paper studies the modelling, design and fabrication of a bio-inspired fish-like robot propelled by a compliant body. The key to the design is the use of a single motor to actuate the compliant body and to generate thrust. The robot has the same geometrical properties of a subcarangiform swimmer with the same length. The design is based on rigid head and fin linked together with a compliant body. The flexible part is modelled as a non-uniform cantilever beam actuated by a concentrated moment. The dynamics of the compliant body are studied and a relationship between the applied moment and the resulting motion is derived. A prototype that implements the proposed approach is built. Experiments on the prototype are done to identify the model parameters and to validate the theoretical modelling
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2010
SUMMARY A biorobotic pectoral fin was developed and used to study how the flexural rigidities of fin rays within a highly deformable fish fin affect the fin's propulsive forces. The design of the biorobotic fin was based on a detailed analysis of the pectoral fin of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). The biorobotic fin was made to execute the kinematics used by the biological fin during steady swimming, and to have structural properties that modeled those of the biological fin. This resulted in an engineered fin that had a similar interaction with the water as the biological fin and that created close approximations of the three-dimensional motions, flows, and forces produced by the sunfish during low speed, steady swimming. Experimental trials were conducted during which biorobotic fins of seven different stiffness configurations were flapped at frequencies from 0.5 to 2.0 Hz in flows with velocities that ranged from 0 to 270 mm s–1. During these trials, thrust and lif...
A robotic fish caudal fin: effects of stiffness and motor program on locomotor performance
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2012
We designed a robotic fish caudal fin with six individually moveable fin rays based on the tail of the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus. Previous fish robotic tail designs have loosely resembled the caudal fin of fishes, but have not incorporated key biomechanical components such as fin rays that can be controlled to generate complex tail conformations and motion programs similar to those seen in the locomotor repertoire of live fishes. We used this robotic caudal fin to test for the effects of fin ray stiffness, frequency and motion program on the generation of thrust and lift forces. Five different sets of fin rays were constructed to be from 150 to 2000 times the stiffness of biological fin rays, appropriately scaled for the robotic caudal fin, which had linear dimensions approximately four times larger than those of adult bluegill sunfish. Five caudal fin motion programs were identified as kinematic features of swimming behaviors in live bluegill sunfish, and were used to program the kinematic repertoire: flat movement of the entire fin, cupping of the fin, W-shaped fin motion, fin undulation and rolling movements. The robotic fin was flapped at frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 2.4Hz. All fin motions produced force in the thrust direction, and the cupping motion produced the most thrust in almost all cases. Only the undulatory motion produced lift force of similar magnitude to the thrust force. More compliant fin rays produced lower peak magnitude forces than the stiffer fin rays at the same frequency. Thrust and lift forces increased with increasing flapping frequency; thrust was maximized by the 500ϫ stiffness fin rays and lift was maximized by the 1000ϫ stiffness fin rays.