<p>Several publications highlight design approaches to purely rigid, purely compliant, or hybrid robotic fish. While purely rigid robot structures have more accurate kinematics, soft robots generated&nbsp;more realistic locomotion. This paper investigate both rigid and soft robot design approaches for a fish skeleton. The authors first evaluate a rigid tensegrity skeleton comprised of a serial chain of&nbsp;4-bar linkages with distributed soft pouch actuation. This is a 1 degree of freedom system where rotation of the first 4-bar linkage unit generates the same rotation in all other units in the serial chain. In a second model, the authors then use motion generation and optimization methods to design a compliant fish skeleton that targets the same motion as the rigid fish skeleton. This is done by transforming a bar-joint mechanism into a continuum model for a compliant fish skeleton. Optimization was based on stress distribution throughout the compliant continuum structure.&nbsp; Similar to the rigid fish skeleton, roation of the base unit resulted in rotation of all subsequant models along the serial chain. Kinematic analysis and force transmission of the rigid structure and stress distribution of the complaint structure are reported. These approaches to a rigid or compliant skeleton may help improve kinematics of soft robots.&nbsp;</p>

Design and Actuation of a Skeleton for a Robotic Fish

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2021/volume/85369

ASME 2021 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE2021)

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