Development of a Bionic Dolphin Flexible Tail Experimental Device Driven by a Steering Gear

Abstract

In order to study the mechanism of the tail swing of the bionic dolphin, a flexible tail experimental device based on a steering engine was developed. This study was focused on the common three joint steering gear and its use in a bionic dolphin tail swing mechanism, and it was found that the bionic dolphin driven by the steering gear had the problem of excessive stiffness. In order to solve this problem, we designed a bionic dolphin tail swing mechanism. The tail swing mechanism was designed rationally through the combination of a steering gear drive and two flexible spines. Analysis of kinematic and dynamic modeling was further completed. Through simulation using, the research on the bionic dolphin tail swing mechanism was verified. Experiments showed that the swing curve formed by the steering gear-driven bionic dolphin tail swing mechanism with two flexible spines fit the real fish body wave curve better than the original bionic dolphin tail swing mechanism.

Keywords

• bionic dolphin
• flexible spine
• swing mechanism
• fish body wave curve