Cooperative Collision Avoidance Control of Robotic Fish Propelled by a Servo/IPMC Driven Hybrid Tail

Abstract

This paper develops and demonstrates cooperative collision avoidance control on two robotic fish propelled by a servo motor and an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC)-driven fish tail. First, experiments conducted on a servo motor/IPMC-driven fish demonstrate an impulsive turning behavior in the fish’s trajectory under the application of a specific frequency, amplitude of the servo motor, and a constant voltage on the IPMC joint. These experiments validate the ‘back relaxation’ of the IPMC joint by observing the angular velocity and the centripetal acceleration of the fish. This impulsive turning speed due to the ‘back relaxation’ of IPMC joint is subsequently modeled by a transfer function and this transfer function is then integrated into the development of the collision avoidance laws for the fish. The collision avoidance control law utilizes the impulsive turning capability of the robotic fish. An experimental validation of the collision avoidance law is performed.