Underwater locomotion

Toward adaptive underwater locomotion, this project investigates a fish-like swimming robot. Diversity of animal's morphology is particularly impressive in the underwater world. It has been uncovered that various properties of morphology have been optimized for the efficient locomotion in the evolutionary process. In this project we explore such morphological properties for the purpose of underwater robot locomotion. By using motor control with only one degree of freedom, this robot exhibits surprisingly rich behavioral diversity in three dimensional underwater environment. We are also currently exploring these topics using a human-like swimming robot.

Marc Ziegler, Juan Pablo Carbajal, Fumiya Iida, Lijin Aryananda, Max Lungarella, Rolf Pfeifer