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Fast-Swimming Soft Robotic Fish Actuated by Bionic Muscle.

Ruiqian Wang1,2,3, Chuang Zhang1,2, Yiwei Zhang1,2,3

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China.

Soft Robotics
|February 26, 2024
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Summary

Researchers developed a fast-swimming soft robotic fish using a bionic muscle actuator. This biomimetic design achieves high speeds and maneuverability, advancing soft underwater robotics.

Keywords:
bionic muscledielectric elastomer actuatorrobotic fishsmart materialssoft robot

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Area of Science:

  • Robotics
  • Biomimetics
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Soft underwater robots offer advantages like low noise and flexibility for ocean exploration.
  • Limited swimming speed and flexibility hinder current soft robot performance.
  • Actuation methods and structural design are crucial for improving soft robot motion.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design a high-speed soft robotic fish inspired by natural fish swimming mechanisms.
  • To utilize a bionic muscle actuator made of dielectric elastomer for enhanced propulsion.
  • To improve the motion performance of soft underwater robots.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a soft robotic fish actuated by a bionic muscle actuator with two independent units.
  • Employed dielectric elastomer as the smart material for actuation.
  • Conducted experiments and theoretical analysis to establish swimming speed and actuating parameter relationships.

Main Results:

  • Achieved continuous C-shaped body motion and a large bending angle (max 40°).
  • Generated significant thrust force (peak 14 mN).
  • Demonstrated a fast swimming speed of 76 mm/s (0.76 body lengths/s) through optimized control.

Conclusions:

  • The bionic muscle actuator enables high-speed, flexible swimming in soft robotic fish.
  • The robotic fish can perform complex trajectories like turning and S-shaped motions.
  • The biomimetic mechanisms and actuation methods can be applied to other soft robotic devices.