Bio-Inspired Monolithically Designed Compliant Swimming Robots

Disciplines

Applied Mechanics

Abstract (300 words maximum)

As technology advances and enables us to design and realize complex systems using new materials and manufacturing methods, biologically inspired robots in every aspect of engineering have attracted much attention in the last few decades. This paper presents the de-sign and analysis of monolithically designed two compliant swimming robots that are actuated and controlled by single motor. Each design incorporates large deflecting compliant members and rigid levers to transfer the input torque to the different parts of the robot. While the first design integrates flexible tail to perform swimming motion, the second design adopts snapping type motion for the same action. Both mechanisms are 3D printed and tested for forward motion. The first robot has a constant speed of 0.68 BL/s while the second has an average speed of 0.6 BL/s. Kinematic model using pseudo rigid body modeling (PRBM) is derived to calculate the load-deflection curves of the flexible tail for Design I, finite element analysis for deflection analysis are performed for Design II.

Academic department under which the project should be listed

SPCEET - Mechanical Engineering

Primary Investigator (PI) Name

Ayse Tekes

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Bio-Inspired Monolithically Designed Compliant Swimming Robots

As technology advances and enables us to design and realize complex systems using new materials and manufacturing methods, biologically inspired robots in every aspect of engineering have attracted much attention in the last few decades. This paper presents the de-sign and analysis of monolithically designed two compliant swimming robots that are actuated and controlled by single motor. Each design incorporates large deflecting compliant members and rigid levers to transfer the input torque to the different parts of the robot. While the first design integrates flexible tail to perform swimming motion, the second design adopts snapping type motion for the same action. Both mechanisms are 3D printed and tested for forward motion. The first robot has a constant speed of 0.68 BL/s while the second has an average speed of 0.6 BL/s. Kinematic model using pseudo rigid body modeling (PRBM) is derived to calculate the load-deflection curves of the flexible tail for Design I, finite element analysis for deflection analysis are performed for Design II.