Better Endurance and Load Capacity: An Improved Design of Manta Ray Robot (RoMan-Ⅱ)
An improved design of a biomimetic underwater vehicle (RoMan-Ⅱ) inspired by manta ray is presented in this paper. The design of the prototype and the swimming motion control are discussed. Instead of using rigid multiple degree-of-freedom linkages as fin rays in the first version, six flexible fin rays are adopted to drive two sided fins which generate thrust through flapping motions. Furthermore, in order to save the energy for a long distance cruising, a bio-inspired gliding motion is incorporated onto the motion control of the improved prototype. With a closed-loop buoyancy control system, the vehicle can perform gliding locomotion in water, which reduces the overall energy consumption. The vehicle can also perform pivot turning and backward locomotion without turning its body. It can achieve an average velocity of one body length per second. The vehicle is able to carry various sensors or communication equipments, as the payload capacity is about 4 kg. Initial testing shows that the operation time of the buoyancy body is estimated to about 6 hours for free swimming and 90 hours for a pure gliding. The flapping frequency, flapping amplitude, and the number of waves performed across the fins chord and wave directions can be independently tuned through the proposed control scheme. In general, the present prototype provides a useful platform to study the ray-like swimming motion in a single or combination mode of flapping, undulation and gliding.
biomimetics robotic fish manta ray robot flapping, gliding
Chunlin Zhou Kin-Huat Low
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798 Singapore
国际会议
The 3rd International Conference of Bionic Engineering(第三届国际仿生工程会议ICBE10)
珠海
英文
137-144
2010-09-14（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）