OPEN ACCESS
This article introduces a biologically inspired modular swimming robot. Due to defined interfaces in mass, energy, and information flux, the robot’s swimming behavior is changeable: an undulant, successive called anguilliform as well as a thunniform swimming mode is adjustable. Unlike the current state of the art, the robot comes with specific designed mechanics for the reduction of the complexity of software-sided control. Thereby, the number of actuators required for propulsion is reduced to the minimum number of one. Currently the prototype robot consists of a basic structure generating amongst others the required torque and several effector modules. The locomotion mode is switchable depending on the number of effector modules. Thereby, the latest anguilliform setup contains three effector modules. The current thunniform configuration features one effector module. The effector modules are mechanically coupled with a manually tunable compliant joint. Optimum values concerning spring stiffness subjected to the location of the joint within the robot are evaluated by simulation.
aquatic robots, biologically inspired robots, joint with tunable compliance, mechatronic design, modular robot
[1] Brüggen, N., Technik der U-Boot Modelle. Verlag für Technik und Handwerk: Baden-Baden, 1992.
[2] Crespi, A., Badertscher, A., Guinard, A. & Ijspeert, A., AmphiBot 1: an undulant snake-like ro-bot. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 50, pp. 163–175, 2005. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. robot.2004.09.015
[3] Fremerey, M., Fischheiter, L., Mämpel, J. & Witte, H. Design of a single actuated, undu-lant swimming robot. The 3rd International Symposium on Mobiligence, Awaji, Japan, pp. 174–178, 2009.
[4] Fremerey, M., Fischheiter, L., Mämpel, J. & Witte, H.. Locomotion study of a single actuated, modular swimming robot. 5th Confernce on Design and Nature, Pisa, Italy, pp. 138–150, 2010.
[5] Fremerey, M., Fischheiter, L., Mämpel, J. & Witte, H., Locomotion study of a single actuated, undulant swimming robot. Proceedings for the joint conference of ISR 2010 (41st International Symposium on Robotics) and ROBOTIK 2010 (6th German Conference on Robotics), Munich, Germany, CD-ROM, 2010.
[6] Graham, J.B. & Lowell, W.R., Surface and subsurface swimming of the sea snake pelamis platurus. Physiological Research Laboratory and Marine Biology Research Division: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA, 1986.
[7] Hirose, S. & Yamada, H., Snake-like robots - machine design of biologically inspired robots. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, pp. 88–98, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ MRA.2009.932130
[8] Kimura, H., Fukuoka, Y. & Cohen, A., Biologically inspired adaptive walking of a quadruped robot. Phiosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 365(1850), pp. 153–170, 2007.
[9] Knutsen, T., Ostrowski, J. & McIsaac, K., .Designing an Underwater eel-like Robot and Developing Anguilliform Locomotion Control. NSF Summer Undergraduate Fellowship in Sensor Technologies: Tamara Harvard University, pp. 119–142.
[10] Laulder, G.V. & Tytell, E.D., Hydrodynamics of undulatory propulsion. Fish Biomechanics, Vol. 23, 2005.
[11] Mämpel, J., Eisold, R., Kempf, W., Schilling, C. & Witte, H., A modular concept for a biologically inspired robot. Robot Motion and Control, pp. 391– 400, 2009.
[12] Mämpel, J., Koch, T., Koehring, S., Obermaier, A. & Witte, H., Concept of a modular climbing robot. IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISIEA.2009.5356362
[13] Papadopoulos, D. & Buehler, M. Stable running in a quadruped robot with compliant legs. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, (ICRA), Vol. 1, pp. 444–449, 2000.
[14] Sfakiotakis, M., Lane, D.M. & Davies, J.B., Review of fi sh swimming modes for aquatic locomotion. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 24, pp. 237–252, 1999. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.1109/48.757275
[15] Sproewitz, A., Fremerey, M., Karakasiliotis, K., Rutishauser, S., Righetti, L. & Ijspeert, A., Compliant leg design for a quadruped robot. Abstracts of Dynamic Walking 2009. Vancouver, Canada, 2009.
[16] Zhang, H.X., Gonzalez-Gomez, J., Chen, S.Y., Wang, W., Liu, R., Li, D. et al., A Novel Modular Climbing Catapillar Using Low-frequency Vibrating Passive Suckers, Proceeding of AIM, 2007.