Zhao Wenjing, Ming Aiguo, Shimojo Makoto
College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan.
Appl Bionics Biomech. 2018 Nov 27;2018:5697408. doi: 10.1155/2018/5697408. eCollection 2018.
To design a soft robotic fish with high performance by a biomimetic method, we are developing a soft robotic fish using piezoelectric fiber composite (PFC) as a flexible actuator. Compared with the conventional rigid robotic fish, the design and control of a soft robotic fish are difficult due to large deformation of flexible structure and complicated coupling dynamics with fluid. That is why the design and control method of soft robotic fish have not been established and they motivate us to make a further study by considering the interaction between flexible structure and surrounding fluid. In this paper, acoustic fluid-structural coupling analysis is applied to consider the fluid effect and predict the dynamic responses of soft robotic fish in the fluid. Basic governing equations of soft robotic fish in the fluid are firstly described. The numerical coupling analysis is then carried out based on different structural parameters of soft robotic fish. Through the numerical analysis, a new soft robotic fish is finally designed, and experimental evaluation is performed. It is confirmed that the larger swimming velocity and better fish-like swimming performance are obtained from the new soft robotic fish. The new soft robotic fish is developed successfully for high performance.
为了通过仿生方法设计出高性能的软体机器人鱼，我们正在研发一种以压电纤维复合材料（PFC）作为柔性驱动器的软体机器人鱼。与传统的刚性机器人鱼相比，由于柔性结构的大变形以及与流体复杂的耦合动力学，软体机器人鱼的设计和控制颇具难度。这就是为什么软体机器人鱼的设计和控制方法尚未确立，而这些因素促使我们通过考虑柔性结构与周围流体之间的相互作用来进行进一步研究。在本文中，应用声学流固耦合分析来考虑流体效应并预测软体机器人鱼在流体中的动态响应。首先描述了软体机器人鱼在流体中的基本控制方程。然后基于软体机器人鱼的不同结构参数进行数值耦合分析。通过数值分析，最终设计出一种新型软体机器人鱼，并进行了实验评估。结果证实，新型软体机器人鱼获得了更大的游动速度和更好的类鱼游动性能。新型软体机器人鱼已成功研发出来以实现高性能。
