Development of a New Manta Robot Considering the Propulsive Resistance

Abstract

In recent years, biological research of an aquatic life<br />is carried out actively. The sea is a dangerous environment for<br />humans, so that we cannot investigate an aquatic life for a long<br />period of time. In addition, conventional underwater robots have<br />a common mechanism for propulsion with screw propellers.<br />Noises generated by screw propellers have a possibility of giving<br />a bad effect on the biological behavior. On the other hand,<br />biomimetic robots can investigate aquatic lives without affecting<br />them significantly. Our laboratory has developed a Manta robot<br />that has propulsion mechanisms with pectoral fins, mimicking<br />the pectoral fin of the manta ray. Conventional Manta robots<br />have a problem that its swimming speed is insufficient for<br />investigating aquatic lives. In this paper, we develop an<br />autonomous Manta robot that is excellent in the propulsion<br />performance by taking account of propulsion resistance caused<br />by the body shape. Several experiments are conducted to show<br />the effectiveness of the proposed method, in the point of the<br />swimming speed and propulsive efficiency