Drag Force Based Propulsion Mechanism for Underwater Robots

Abstract

This paper introduces a new propulsion mechanism for underwater robots to explore the ocean bottom and other maricultural applications. Various types of existing bionic fish stimulated from real fish are advanced nowadays so that disparate from those types of fish, bionic shrimp mechanism inspired from shrimp swimming is contributed. Focusing on the swimming method of paddling limbs of shrimp, a paddle-type propulsive method is developed that applies the motion of the abdomen during swimming of the shrimp. The experimental results of the propulsive motions using the developed prototype are demonstrated and analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of propulsive forces.