Nowadays, the interest in autonomous underwater vehicles is constantly increasing following the emerging needs of underwater mining, fish farming, oceans exploration and monitoring. The bio-inspired robot, object of this thesis, has been developed to mimic the motion of the cownose ray, a fish belonging to the Myliobatiformes family. It produces thrust by moving its pectoral fins, generating a wave travelling in the direction opposite to its motion. The choice of this species as an inspiration has to be found in the efficiency and maneuverability of its locomotion. This project aims at developing a robot, with the idea of performing some tests on it in order to understand if the basic concept is valid. A first prototype is 3D printed and employed first in the air, then in the water. Air experiments have been conduced to analyze the aerodynamic efficiency of the system and such an information has been shifted towards the water environment thanks to Reynolds number equivalence. Water experiments have proven that the principle is effective, encouraging the development of a new robot, based on the strength points of the first prototype and, after the awareness of the weaknesses of the system, improved in all the other aspects.
Al giorno d’oggi, l’interesse per gli AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) è in costante aumento a seguito delle esigenze di estrazione mineraria subacquea, piscicoltura, esplorazione e monitoraggio degli oceani. Il robot bio-ispirato, oggetto di questa tesi, è stato sviluppato con lo scopo di imitare il moto della razza Cownose, un pesce appartenente alla famiglia Myliobatiformes. Esso produce una spinta muovendo le sue pinne pettorali, generando un’onda che viaggia nella direzione opposta al suo movimento. La scelta di questa specie come ispirazione va attribuita all’efficienza e manovrabilità dei suoi movimenti. Questo progetto ha lo scopo di sviluppare un robot, con l’idea di effettuare alcuni test per capire se il concetto di base sia valido. Un primo prototipo è stato quindi stampato attraverso la tecnologia di stampaggio 3D ed impiegato prima in aria, poi in acqua. Gli esperimenti in aria sono stati condotti per analizzare l’efficienza aerodinamica del sistema e, tale informazione è stata poi traslata nell’ambiente acquatico attraverso l’equivalenza del numero di Reynolds. Gli esperimenti in acqua hanno dimostrato che il principio è valido, incoraggiando lo sviluppo di un nuovo robot, basato sui punti di forza del primo prototipo e, con la consapevolezza delle debolezze del sistema, migliorato in tutti gli altri aspetti.
Design of a bio-inspired manta ray robot
Claudio, Ivan
2020/2021
Abstract
Nowadays, the interest in autonomous underwater vehicles is constantly increasing following the emerging needs of underwater mining, fish farming, oceans exploration and monitoring. The bio-inspired robot, object of this thesis, has been developed to mimic the motion of the cownose ray, a fish belonging to the Myliobatiformes family. It produces thrust by moving its pectoral fins, generating a wave travelling in the direction opposite to its motion. The choice of this species as an inspiration has to be found in the efficiency and maneuverability of its locomotion. This project aims at developing a robot, with the idea of performing some tests on it in order to understand if the basic concept is valid. A first prototype is 3D printed and employed first in the air, then in the water. Air experiments have been conduced to analyze the aerodynamic efficiency of the system and such an information has been shifted towards the water environment thanks to Reynolds number equivalence. Water experiments have proven that the principle is effective, encouraging the development of a new robot, based on the strength points of the first prototype and, after the awareness of the weaknesses of the system, improved in all the other aspects.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/177770