The new robo-tail fish swims efficiently at different speeds

The new model combines robotics, fluid dynamics and biomechanics, so the new fish-like robot

swims much more efficiently compared to similar robots.

Submersibles are typically designed for a single cruising speed, and they often cannot go faster or slower. But the new robot can be used even in multi-speed missions. 

Dan Quinn, Associate Professor, School of Engineering and Applied SciencesSciences from the University of Virginia and his colleagues figured out how to design underwater vehicles with variable speed. The idea was to make a fishtail with adjustable stiffness: depending on its level, you can achieve different speeds. 

The problem is that there is no known waymeasure the stiffness of the tail of a swimming fish, so it is difficult to understand on what principles this indicator changes in the natural environment. Quinn and Zhong solved this problem by combining fluid dynamics and biomechanics to produce a model of how and why tail stiffness should be tuned. As a result, they derived the formula: rigidity becomes higher with increasing swimming speed squared.

To test the theory, they built a fish-like robot with a programmable artificial tendon to adjust the stiffness of its tail while swimming.

As a result, the robot was able to swim over a wider range of speeds and waste less energy than robots with a fixed rigidity. 

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