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Biomimetic Motion Planning of an Undulating Robotic Fish Fin

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Republic of Singapore, mkhlow{at}ntu.edu.sg

A. Willy

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Republic of Singapore

This paper presents a locomotion control implementation of a robotic system mimicking the undulating fins of fish. To mimic the actual flexible fin of a real fish, we created a ribbon fin type actuation device with a series of connecting linkages and attached it to the robotic fish. By virtue of a specially designed strip withaslider, eachlinkisabletoturnandslidewithrespect to the adjacent link. The driving linkages are used to form a mechanical fin consisting of several fin segments, which are able to produce undulations, similar to those produced by actual fins. By virtue of the modular and reconfigurable fin mechanisms, two robotic fish with different fin layouts have been designed and constructed: The first prototype is a robotic stingray, swimming by undulations of a pair of lateral fins-the second is a robotic knifefish, swimming by undulations of a long anal fin. The locomotion scheme and mechatronics implementation of the robotic stingray are presented and discussed with a parametric study of the slider’s workspace and joint trajectory. Some experimental observations of the robotic knifefish are alsoshownanddiscussed. Theresults demonstrate that the designed fin mechanisms are able to undulate sections of pectoral and anal fins, with different amplitudes and phases, along the length of the fin in the direction of motion. This may lead to further developments that better mimic the fin locomotion capability of real fish.

Key Words: Biomimetic • robotic fish • modular and re-configurable layouts • undulating fin • motion planning

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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Low, K. H. Articles by Willy, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?