Adaptive obstacle climbing and hydrodynamic performance analyses of the amphibious robot with wheels and flexible undulating fins

Abstract

In this paper, an amphibious robot with flexible undulating fins and self-adaptive climbing wheels are proposed for satisfying the needs of industrial applications. The structure of the climbing mechanism and undulating fin are firstly designed. Then, the adaptive obstacle climbing and the hydrodynamic characteristics are investigated through numerical simulations by using the Adams and Fluent, respectively. Finally, the experimental measurements of the land walking and underwater propulsion are studied. The numerical results illustrate that the amphibious robot could climb the vertical obstacle adaptively. In the underwater marching pattern, the underwater velocity could reach 1 m/s. In the rotating and yawing patterns, the angular velocity increases to the certain value while the rotating angle keeps increasing. The robot moves forward and turns around with the difference frequency of the undulating fins. The underwater propulsion and land-walking experiments show good swimming performance and the obstacle crossing ability of the amphibious robot, respectively, which verify the numerical simulation.