Robofish: new generation in underwater vehicles

A fish-shaped submarine. This is the novel new idea that scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are researching.

It’s not exactly fish-shaped yet, but the general ideal is to make a submarine that isn’t propelled by, well, propellers. Instead they want to be able to move the submarine through the use of fins. The fins will allow the vehicle to navigate underwater with more agility, speed and control.

This works by a cupping motion of the fins that they modeled after the bluegill sunfish. The fins create little backward thrust and induce little water resistance. The fins thrust the fish forward by “curl[ing] at its lower and upper edges to create a cup-like shape.”

The robofin prototype (the latest of several,) is made of a flexible polymer to mimic the fish’s own fins. It can also conduct electricity so that signals are spread through the polymer itself instead of being directed into the motor.

So far, their experiments have only focused on the bluegill’s pectoral fins but they now intend to study its dorsal and tail fins and other movements of how the fish swims. The goal is to make a highly efficient fishbot to roam the seas.

Next they could build a roboKraken and a roboLeviathan and make them fight each other. Robocop can referee.

Via BBC News

A fish-shaped submarine. This is the novel new idea that scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are researching.

It’s not exactly fish-shaped yet, but the general ideal is to make a submarine that isn’t propelled by, well, propellers. Instead they want to be able to move the submarine through the use of fins. The fins will allow the vehicle to navigate underwater with more agility, speed and control.

This works by a cupping motion of the fins that they modeled after the bluegill sunfish. The fins create little backward thrust and induce little water resistance. The fins thrust the fish forward by “curl[ing] at its lower and upper edges to create a cup-like shape.”

The robofin prototype (the latest of several,) is made of a flexible polymer to mimic the fish’s own fins. It can also conduct electricity so that signals are spread through the polymer itself instead of being directed into the motor.

So far, their experiments have only focused on the bluegill’s pectoral fins but they now intend to study its dorsal and tail fins and other movements of how the fish swims. The goal is to make a highly efficient fishbot to roam the seas.

Next they could build a roboKraken and a roboLeviathan and make them fight each other. Robocop can referee.

Via BBC News