A new type of fish-like underwater microrobot

TLDR

This paper presents a new prototype of an underwater fish‑like microrobot that uses an ionic conducting polymer film actuator to achieve three‑degree‑of‑freedom swimming motion. The microrobot employs an ICPF actuator as a propulsion tail fin and buoyancy adjuster, features two independently driven tails and a body posture adjuster, and its swimming speed is modulated by varying input voltage amplitude and frequency. The prototype measures 45 mm long, 10 mm wide, 4 mm thick, and its swimming speed can be tuned by adjusting input voltage amplitude and frequency.

Abstract

This paper presents a new prototype model of an underwater fish-like microrobot utilizing ionic conducting polymer film (ICPF) actuator as the servo actuator to realize swimming motion with three degrees of freedom. A biomimetic fish-like microrobot using ICPF actuator as a propulsion tail fin and a buoyancy adjuster for the swimming structure in water or aqueous medium is developed. The overall size of the underwater prototype fish shaped microrobot is 45 mm in length, 10 mm in width, and 4 mm in thickness. It has two tails with a fin driven respectively, a body posture adjuster, and a buoyancy adjuster. The moving characteristic of the underwater microrobot is measured by changing the frequency of input voltage from 0.1-5 Hz in water and the amplitude of input voltage from 0.5-10 V. The experimental results indicate that changing the amplitude and frequency of input voltage can control the swimming speed of proposed underwater microrobot.