A Swimming Robot in Action
A Swimming Robot in Action
In the video on your left you can see the Cephalobot demonstrating buoyancy control as well as quick forward motion. You can see the body deform with the pressure changes as the robot cycles between intake and propulsion.
The goal of this project was to create the fastest swimming soft robot that our team could. We chose to focus our efforts on soft actuators, chiefly powered by pneumatics (pressure control) which tend to have excellent power density. This website lays out the working principles, design, and fabrication processes of our robot.
We're proud to introduce you to the Cephalobot.
The Cephalobot uses pneumatics paired with custom soft check valves to create an indirect water jet. Greater detail on design can be seen in the design portion of this website (accessible in the upper right hand corner of the webpage). In brief, a silicone bladder inside a hollow silicone body is connected to an airline which can supply positive and negative pressure. At the front of the body is a nose cone which directs water to an intake valve, which can only open inward. When the bladder receives negative pressure (i.e. vacuum) this creates negative pressure in the silicone body. Water is able to follow the pressure gradient through the intake valve, creating suction and drawing Cephalobot forward. This negative pressure also acts to seal the outlet valve which can only open outwards. Once pressure is equalized, the bladder can be inflated which increases pressure inside the body. The increased pressure pushes the intake valve closed, and the water that was drawn in through the intake valve can now only exit through the outlet valve, creating a propulsive jet. This makes our robot particularly efficient as a swimmer because both its recovery (intake) and propulsive cycles yield forward motion.
Chongpeng Qiu (CQ)
Nathaniel Root
Omar Said
John Santosuosso
Squid Portrait: https://www.mba.ac.uk/mba-marks-140-year-anniversary/
Image of Binder Dividers: https://www.target.com/p/plastic-letter-index-dividers-up-up/-/A-52679389?preselect=13326170#lnk=sametab