Mechanical Design of a New Hybrid 3R-DoF Bioinspired Robotic Fin Based on Kinematics Modeling and Analysis

The field of bioinspired underwater robots aims to replicate the capabilities of marine animals in artificial systems. Stingrays have emerged as highly promising species to be mimicked because of their flat body morphology and size. Furthermore, they are considered high-performance species due to th...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cortés Torres, Eliseo de J., García Gonzales, Luis E., Villamizar Marin, Luis E., García Cena, Cecilia
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2024
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/396387
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/396387
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85205119298
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Bioinspired
Compliant joints
Underwater robots
Description
Summary:The field of bioinspired underwater robots aims to replicate the capabilities of marine animals in artificial systems. Stingrays have emerged as highly promising species to be mimicked because of their flat body morphology and size. Furthermore, they are considered high-performance species due to their maneuverability, propulsion mode, and sliding efficiency. Designing and developing mechanisms to imitate their pectoral fins is a challenge for underwater robotic researchers mainly because the locomotion characteristics depend on the coordinated movement of the fins. In the state of the art, several mechanisms were proposed with 2 active rotation degrees of freedom (DoFs) to replicate fin movement. In this paper, we propose adding an additional active DoF in order to improve the realism in the robotic manta ray movement. Therefore, in this article, we present the mechanical design, modeling, and kinematics analysis of a 3-active-and-rotational-DoF pectoral fin inspired by the Mobula Alfredi or reef manta ray. Additionally, by using the kinematics model, we were able to simulate and compare the behaviour of both mechanisms, that is, those with 2 and 3 DoFs. Our simulation results reveal an improvement in the locomotion, and we hypothesized that with the third DoF, some specific missions, such as hovering or fast emergence to the surface, will have a better performance.