Advances in Robotics Research
Volume 1, Number 3, 2014, pages 239-250
DOI: 10.12989/arr.2015.1.3.239
Design and implementation of a biological inspired swimming robot
Jose Augusto M. Silva, Manuel F. Silva and Ramiro S. Barbosa
Abstract
This paper describes the design and development of a bio-inspired swimming robot, intended for inspections purposes. The main goal of this work was the development and implementation of a first prototype of a robot with locomotion similar to a biological fish. For that purpose, it was first performed a study concerning fish swimming, in order to understand how they move. In parallel, a study was conducted on swimming robots already developed to examine their locomotion modes. With this background knowledge it was designed a prototype, that was latter implemented. After the prototype development there were performed several locomotion tests. Several experiments revealed that the robot was able to swim with stability and keeping the programmed direction.
Key Words
robotics; swimming; biological inspiration; biomimetics
Address
Jose Augusto M. Silva, Manuel F. Silva, Ramiro S. Barbosa: Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Engineering of Porto, Rua Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Manuel F. Silva: INESC TEC–ROBIS, Portugal
Ramiro S. Barbosa: GECAD–Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support Research Center, Portugal