Underwater swimmer robot II

• Main Author: Chung, Kuan Yi
• Other Authors: Chow Wai Tuck
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/176350
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The vast and largely unexplored oceans hold enormous potential for innovation. Ocean exploration is essential to understanding the ocean environment and its inhabitants. While underwater robots have been developed for years to aid in ocean research, there remains a need for new developments in underwater robots that are more efficient that those that already exist due to the growing demand for ocean exploration. The navigational capabilities relating to manoeuvrability of conventional underwater robots are generally limited in more complex environments. This project explores the development of an underwater propulsion system that is inspired by Krill’s drag-based swimming characteristics and suitable for application in low Reynolds water with good manoeuvrability. A review of existing literatures on underwater robots, biomimetic underwater locomotion, and krill swimming behaviours provided the foundation for this project. Leveraging the knowledge of krill propulsion, 3D-printed swimmer limb prototypes were fabricated to generate propulsion. The efficacy of these designs, which includes comparison between soft body design incorporated with rigid body frame and fully rigid body design, in producing thrust was assessed through a series of tests. These tests studied the propulsion displacement and force produced by the designs. Results shown that the soft body design with rigid body frame achieved improved propulsion displacement results by up to 60%. The findings from this research will contribute to the development of more effective and agile underwater robots by incorporating the principles of drag-based propulsion observed in krill.