On Locomotion of a Laminated Fish-inspired robot in a Small-to-size Environment

TL;DR

This paper investigates the control and locomotion of a fish-inspired robot designed to operate effectively in small, narrow underwater environments, focusing on propulsion mechanisms and interaction capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a control approach for a low-cost fish-inspired robot capable of navigating confined spaces using tail propulsion and identified thrust regimes.

Findings

Successful modeling of thrust generation

Effective control of robot in narrow environments

Identification of propulsion regimes for maneuvering

Abstract

Many different robots have been designed and built to work under water. In many cases, researchers have chosen to use bio-inspired platforms. In most cases, the main goal of the fish inspired robots has been set to autonomously swim and maneuver in an environment spacious compared to the fish's size. In this paper, the identification control of a low-cost fish-inspired robot is studied with the goal of building a mechanism to not only swim in water but able to interact with its narrow environment. The robotic fish under study uses tail propulsion as main locomotion. Moreover, proper propulsion regimes are identified and used to model and control thrust generated by propulsion.