A Biologically Inspired Ray-like Underwater Robot with Electroactive Polymer Pectoral Fins
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper describes an electroactive polymer robot with ray-like pectoral fins. Electroactive polymers are materials that change their geometry in response to electric field and can be used to replace electromechanical devices. The aim of this study is to show that these materials can be used to build more complicated devices and the behaviour of these devices can be coordinated to some extent. Both of the pectoral fins are built of eight electroactive polymer muscles. The experiments show that the fins are able to generate undulating motion and propel the body forward. The speed of the device is considerably slower than that of ray-like fishes but the device also has a smaller muscle mass and total mass ratio compared to aquatic animals.
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