Design, Modeling, and Control of an Aurelia-Inspired Robot Based on SMA Artificial Muscles
Yihan Yang,
Chenzhong Chu,
Hu Jin,
Qiqiang Hu,
Min Xu,
Erbao Dong
Affiliations
Yihan Yang
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Chenzhong Chu
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Hu Jin
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Qiqiang Hu
Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Min Xu
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Erbao Dong
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
This paper presented a flexible and easily fabricated untethered underwater robot inspired by Aurelia, which is named “Au-robot”. The Au-robot is actuated by six radial fins made of shape memory alloy (SMA) artificial muscle modules, which can realize pulse jet propulsion motion. The thrust model of the Au-robot’s underwater motion is developed and analyzed. To achieve a multimodal and smooth swimming transition for the Au-robot, a control method integrating a central pattern generator (CPG) and an adaptive regulation (AR) heating strategy is provided. The experimental results demonstrate that the Au-robot, with good bionic properties in structure and movement mode, can achieve a smooth transition from low-frequency swimming to high-frequency swimming with an average maximum instantaneous velocity of 12.61 cm/s. It shows that a robot designed and fabricated with artificial muscle can imitate biological structures and movement traits more realistically and has better motor performance.
