Chapter 13: Phenomenon of Spatially Growing Wave of a Snake-like Robot: Natural Generation of Bio-mimetic Swimming Motion
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Published:19 Nov 2015
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K. Takagi, Y. Nakabo, Z. Luo, T. Mukai, and K. Asaka, in Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs)
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In the swimming of an underwater snake robot made of an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC), the bending wave of the snake robot grows from the head to the tail even if a uniform moment (or voltage) with constant amplitude is applied. This interesting phenomenon is also observed in the swimming of living fish and is thought to contribute to energy-efficient swimming. The phenomenon observed in the swimming of the robot may suggest a hypothesis such that living fish utilize the elasticity of their musculoskeletal systems when they swim. That is to say, the growing wave phenomenon of living fish may be generated unintentionally and naturally. This chapter introduces a modelling and analytical solution to the bending deformation of a beam-shaped IPMC robot. The obtained analytical solution can simulate the envelope of the deformation shape, which increases from the head to the tail. In the experiment, the growing wave phenomenon of the robot is measured by a video camera. From the captured deformation data, the parameters of the analytical model are estimated. Finally it is shown that the deformation shape of the analytical model well predicts the experimental deformation.