Multi-arm robotic swimming with octopus-inspired compliant web

Michael Sfakiotakis; Asimina Kazakidi; Avgousta Chatzidaki; Theodoros Evdaimon; Dimitris P. Tsakiris

doi:10.1109/IROS.2014.6942576

Multi-arm robotic swimming with octopus-inspired compliant web

Michael Sfakiotakis^*, Asimina Kazakidi, Avgousta Chatzidaki, Theodoros Evdaimon, Dimitris P. Tsakiris

^*Corresponding author for this work

Biomedical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents an 8-arm compliant robot, able to propel itself underwater by movements of its arms, either alone or interconnected via a passively-compliant web. The robot is inspired by the morphology and outstanding locomotor capabilities of the octopus, and is fabricated primarily from compliant materials. This robotic swimmer is first investigated computationally via dynamical models capturing the arm and web compliance, and indicating the effect of various kinematic parameters of the system on its motion. The performance of the robotic prototype is, then, tested experimentally, to demonstrate this novel mode of underwater propulsion by combining various patterns of sculling movements of the arms and web. Speeds of 0.5 body lengths per second and propulsive forces of up to 10.5 N were achieved, with a cost of transport as low as 0.62.

Original language	English
Pages	302-308
Number of pages	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2014.6942576
Publication status	Published - 4 Nov 2014
Event	2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2014 - Chicago, United States Duration: 14 Sept 2014 → 18 Sept 2014

Conference

Conference	2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2014
Country/Territory	United States
City	Chicago
Period	14/09/14 → 18/09/14

Keywords

biologically-inspired robots
octopus
soft robots
underwater robots

Access to Document

10.1109/IROS.2014.6942576

Cite this

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abstract = "This paper presents an 8-arm compliant robot, able to propel itself underwater by movements of its arms, either alone or interconnected via a passively-compliant web. The robot is inspired by the morphology and outstanding locomotor capabilities of the octopus, and is fabricated primarily from compliant materials. This robotic swimmer is first investigated computationally via dynamical models capturing the arm and web compliance, and indicating the effect of various kinematic parameters of the system on its motion. The performance of the robotic prototype is, then, tested experimentally, to demonstrate this novel mode of underwater propulsion by combining various patterns of sculling movements of the arms and web. Speeds of 0.5 body lengths per second and propulsive forces of up to 10.5 N were achieved, with a cost of transport as low as 0.62.",

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AU - Tsakiris, Dimitris P.

PY - 2014/11/4

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Multi-arm robotic swimming with octopus-inspired compliant web

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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Octopus-inspired multi-arm robotic swimming

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