The eel-like robot

The aim of this project is to design, study and build an " eel-like robot " prototype able to swim in three dimensions. The study is based on the analysis of eel swimming and results in the realization of a prototype with 12 vertebrae, a skin and a head with two fins. To reach these objectives, a multidisciplinary group of teams and laboratories has been formed in the framework of two French projects. INTRODUCTION As compared with our technological achievements, the performances of fish make the human dream. Among them include their prodigious capacity for acceleration up to 20 times gravity, their speed exceeding 70 km/h, their extraordinary maneuverability: 180 • turn without slowing down and radii of curvature about 10 times their length, while the current vehicles must slow down by half and take radius of about 10 times their length. Efficiency is about 10 times higher than our best submarines, etc... These features alone justify current efforts to understand and reproduce solutions used by the fish in our robotic systems. In this area, under the biomimetics, the first difficulties encountered is described as follows: " Replicate the performance of a fish by simple imitation of its form and function would be impossible because the development of a vehicle bending so smooth and continuing is beyond the current possibilities of robotics. " [1]. Thus, the continuing fish is an essential difficulty of research in this area. The purpose of this project is to enhance biomimetics