Octopus-Swimming-Like Robot with Soft Asymmetric Arms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel octopus-inspired underwater robot with asymmetric passive arms and a simple actuation system, achieving efficient swimming and simplifying design complexity for biological and robotic research.

Contribution

The work presents a new bio-inspired robot design that uses passive morphing arms and minimal motors to replicate octopus swimming, reducing complexity while maintaining performance.

Findings

Robot reached a peak speed of 314 mm/s.

Design simplifies actuation compared to traditional octopus robots.

Achieves efficient swimming with only two motors.

Abstract

Underwater vehicles have seen significant development over the past seventy years. However, bio-inspired propulsion robots are still in their early stages and require greater interdisciplinary collaboration between biologists and roboticists. The octopus, one of the most intelligent marine animals, exhibits remarkable abilities such as camouflaging, exploring, and hunting while swimming with its arms. Although bio-inspired robotics researchers have aimed to replicate these abilities, the complexity of designing an eight-arm bionic swimming platform has posed challenges from the beginning. In this work, we propose a novel bionic robot swimming platform that combines asymmetric passive morphing arms with an umbrella-like quick-return mechanism. Using only two simple constant-speed motors, this design achieves efficient swimming by replicating octopus-like arm movements and stroke time ratios. The robot reached a peak speed of 314 mm/s during its second power stroke. This design reduces the complexity of traditional octopus-like swimming robot actuation systems while maintaining good swimming performance. It offers a more achievable and efficient platform for biologists and roboticists conducting more profound octopus-inspired robotic and biological studies.