WORLDTECHFeather-star-inspired underwater robot moves in three dimensions with just two actuators
A research group at North Carolina State University has built an underwater robot modelled on the feather star, a marine invertebrate, that can move up, down, change direction and rotate in place. According to New Atlas, it does so with a few elastic limbs and just two actuators.
Copying a feather star's flexible limbs
The team took its inspiration from the feather star, a marine creature whose several flexible, feather-like limbs let it move in different directions. Its movements look effortless, yet reproducing them in machines has proven very hard.
The new design achieves three-dimensional motion with only a few elastic limbs and two actuators, the components that generate movement in a robot.
Building on an earlier manta-ray robot
The same group previously designed an aquatic robot inspired by a manta ray. It swam impressively fast but could not manoeuvre in three dimensions, a limitation shared by many underwater robots.
Moving forward is only part of the challenge; rising, diving, turning and rotating in place is harder, and the team set out to address that gap with its latest invention.
Why the approach matters
Robots that move as naturally as fish, and blend in as much as possible, are what exploring the underwater world requires, according to the report. The reported design aims at that goal with a simpler mechanism than the complex control systems and extra actuators usually needed for such manoeuvres.
Open questions
- How well does the robot perform outside the laboratory?
- How does its speed compare with the manta-ray robot?