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Hydrodynamic Simulation and Experiment of a Self-Adaptive Amphibious Robot Driven by Tracks and Bionic Fins
Minghai Xia1, Qunwei Zhu1, Qian Yin2
1College of Intelligence Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 25, 2024
Summary
This study introduces AmphiFinbot-II, a bionic amphibious robot with a unified control system for seamless land and water movement. Its novel design enhances propulsion and simplifies operation for diverse applications.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Bionics
- Mechanical Engineering
Background:
- Amphibious robots offer significant potential in industry, defense, and transportation.
- Existing designs often face challenges with complex operation and mode switching between environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a novel bionic amphibious robot, AmphiFinbot-II, with improved propulsion and simplified control.
- To validate the robot's design and amphibious motion capabilities through simulation and physical experiments.
Main Methods:
- Development of a compound drive mechanism for simultaneous track rotation and fin undulation.
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze swimming performance.
- Physical experiments for land and underwater locomotion assessment.
Main Results:
- CFD simulations confirmed the feasibility of the wave-like swimming mechanism.
- Physical experiments demonstrated consistent performance with simulations.
- Underwater and land speeds were quantified, showing proportionality to undulating frequency and high maneuverability.
Conclusions:
- AmphiFinbot-II exhibits outstanding amphibious motion capabilities.
- The robot's unified control approach simplifies operation, validating the design's feasibility.
- Presents a novel concept for high-performance, self-contained amphibious robots.
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