BASIC PERFORMANCE OF FLAT KICK-SWIMMING ROBOT POWERED BY IMPULSE FORCE GENERATOR WITH SPATIALLY-DEFORMABLE V-SHAPE ELASTICA

摘要

In this paper, we show basic performances of a novel very flat under-water robot which swims by kicking surrounding water impulsively. This robot utilizes an impulse force generator based on snap-through buckling of a V-shape elastica whose ends are driven rotationally by two motors respectively. While synchronization of the two motors allows the robot move forward impulsively, phase difference of them brings quick turning motion to the robot. Under-water experiments show that the proposed robot can not only move forward impulsively at the maximum velocity of 0.74[m/s] corresponding to 2.18[BL/s] (body length per second), but also turn quickly at the maximum angular velocity of 289[deg/s].