Development of underwater robot focused on Manta ray and verification of turning performance

Abstract

Recently, robot imitating aquatic organisms are superior in posture control and acceleration. The robot is expected to check structures such as bridges and search for aquatic habitats. We focus on Manta ray's swimming performance. In our previous study, flexible fins are developed by combining rigid material and elastic material, imitated the fin of Manta ray. In this paper, we design a fin based on the study in order to incorporate to the Manta ray robot. We conduct the propulsion experiments. The propulsion performance of the fin is evaluated by the swimming number which represents swimming efficiency. Moreover, we develop Manta ray robot used by the designed fin. And evaluate the robot from turning experiments. We indicate Manta ray robot can perform turning motion according to the difference of propulsion force as the experiment result.