Novel Swimming Mechanism for a Robotic Fish

Efficient cruising, maneuverability, and noiseless performance are the key factors that differentiate fish robots from other types of underwater robots. Accordingly, various types of fish-like robots have been developed such as RoboTuna and Boxybot. However, the existing fish robots are only capable of a specific swimming mode like cruising inspired by tuna or maneuvering inspired by labriforms. However, for accomplishing marine tasks, an underwater robot needs to be able to have different swimming modes. To address this problem, the Mechatronics Group at University of Canterbury is developing a fish robot with novel mechanical design. The novelty of the robot roots in its actuation system, which causes its efficient cruising and its high capabilities for unsteady motion like fast start and fast turning. In this chapter, the existing fish robots are introduced with respect to their mechanical design. Then the proposed design of the fish robot at University of Canterbury is described and compared with the existing fish robots.