Development of a soft underwater robot mimicking cow-nosed ray

Abstract

This paper aims at design and enhancement of the performance for soft biomimetic cow-nosed ray based on piezoelectric fiber composite. Macro fiber composite (MFC), a typical piezoelectric fiber composite is used. A new structure of the soft robotic fish is proposed through structural optimization based on the bionics and structural dynamics analysis with the Finite Element Method (FEM). According to this structure, the track of the flapping motion for pectoral fins is described by the simulation analysis. Meantime, experiment of the prototype is presented. The displacement results of the track for pectoral fin in simulation and experiment are compared during a normal period. The simulation results march the experimental results well. Finally, the track of pectoral fin and speed performance of the soft robotic fish in the water is described. The speed can reach 200mm/s when 10Hz rectangular input signal is used.