Design, Fabrication, and Swimming Performance of a Free-Swimming Tuna-Mimetic Robot

Abstract EN

High efficiency in cruising is a determining factor in developing tuna-mimeticrobots.

So far, a number of tuna-like robots have been made.

Nevertheless,the University of Canterbury has developed its own tuna-like robot called UC-Ika 1 toinvestigate and to accordingly improve the swimming performance of the biomimeticswimming robots.

In order to do so, the propulsion system of a tuna with respect toits thrust and resistive forces is studied.

Following that, the fish robot is designedand fabricated considering the tuna propulsion system.

The robot is then tested severaltimes to investigate its swimming performance.

Comparison of the speed andefficiency of UC-Ika 1 with those of other tuna-like robots shows a promising improvementof cruising performance of UC-Ika 1.