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Dynamic Modeling of a Novel Kind of Rigid-Soft Coupling Biomimetic Robotic Fish

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Abstract

Designs of robotic fishes are becoming more and more diversified, from totally rigid to soft, or rigid-soft coupling. Currently, most of the dynamic modeling approaches for robotic fishes have an assumption that the midline body curve follows a specific flapping pattern. Nevertheless, the soft or rigid-soft coupling biomimetic robotic fish is an under-actuated system. Due to the complicated interactions with the surrounding aquatic environments, the midline body curve is not guaranteed to follow the given pattern. This paper presents the modeling method for a novel kind of rigid-soft coupling biomimetic robotic fish, and studies how the hydrodynamic force influences motions of the robotic fish, especially its flapping pattern. The biomimetic robotic fish is characterized with a rigid head, a wire-driven active body, and a soft tail. To begin with, dynamics of the robot’s rigid head is formulated by using Kirchhoff’s equation from conventional marine vessel technologies. Then, by using the Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model (PRBM) theory, the soft tail can be modeled as pseudo-rigid links connected serially via torsional springs. Together with the wire-driven active body, the whole propeller, is a serial-link mechanism, motion of which can be calculated by Lagrangian method. Finally, experiments are carried out to verify this modeling method in terms of midline body curves. Overall, this paper offers a feasible and pragmatic method for modeling the rigid-soft coupling biomimetic robotic fish.

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Funding

The paper is funded by Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (#2020A1515110692), Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, SIAT Innovation Program for Excellent Young Researchers, and SIAT-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Precision Engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Engineering, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China

    Qiyang Zuo, Yaohui Xu & Kai He

  2. Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, SIAT Branch, Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Human-Machine Intelligence-Synergy Systems (#2019B121205007), and the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Engineering, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China

    Fengran Xie

  3. Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and SIAT Branch, Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China

    Haitao Fang

  4. S. M. Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China

    Yong Zhong

  5. Department of Surgery the and Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Zheng Li

Authors
  1. Qiyang Zuo
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  2. Yaohui Xu
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  3. Fengran Xie
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  4. Haitao Fang
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  5. Kai He
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  6. Yong Zhong
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  7. Zheng Li
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Contributions

• Qiyang Zuo: conduct experiments; data analysis; draft the manuscript.

• Yaohui Xu: literature search.

• Fengran Xie: conceptualization; revise the manuscript; funding acquisition.

• Haitao Fang: funding acquisition; data analysis.

• Kai He: supervision; revise the manuscript; funding acquisition; resource.

• Yong Zhong: review; data analysis; edit.

• Zheng Li: review; edit.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fengran Xie.

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Zuo, Q., Xu, Y., Xie, F. et al. Dynamic Modeling of a Novel Kind of Rigid-Soft Coupling Biomimetic Robotic Fish. J Intell Robot Syst 105, 41 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01661-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01661-w

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