TY - GEN
T1 - Development of an Autonomous Modular Swimming Robot with Disturbance Rejection and Path Tracking
AU - Deng, Hankun
AU - Nitroy, Colin
AU - Panta, Kundan
AU - Li, Donghao
AU - Priya, Shashank
AU - Cheng, Bo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Here we present the development of an autonomous modular swimming robot. This robot, named μBot 2.0, was upgraded from our previous robot platform μBot and features onboard computing, sensing, and power. Its compact size and modularity render the robot an ideal platform for studying bio-inspired robot swimming. The robot is equipped with a micro controller in its head that communicates with external computers through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and sends motor commands to the body segments via Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol. Each body segment has a customized printed circuit board (PCB) that receives commands and controls the electromagnetic actuator for generating body movements. The robot head is also equipped with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to measure its heading and a battery for power. In this work, a μBot 2.0 with three actuators was assembled and the swimming performance was tested. The robot actuators were activated via rhythmic motor input from a central pattern generator (CPG). Experimental results showed that the swimming speed was highly sensitive to the frequency of the motor input, with a maximum swimming speed of 130 mm/s (equivalent to 0.7 body length per second) at 6 Hz. The robot also had the capability to correct its heading with IMU feedback and follow desired paths using a line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law with an overhead camera. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the robot's design and its potential in a variety of aquatic applications.
AB - Here we present the development of an autonomous modular swimming robot. This robot, named μBot 2.0, was upgraded from our previous robot platform μBot and features onboard computing, sensing, and power. Its compact size and modularity render the robot an ideal platform for studying bio-inspired robot swimming. The robot is equipped with a micro controller in its head that communicates with external computers through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and sends motor commands to the body segments via Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol. Each body segment has a customized printed circuit board (PCB) that receives commands and controls the electromagnetic actuator for generating body movements. The robot head is also equipped with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to measure its heading and a battery for power. In this work, a μBot 2.0 with three actuators was assembled and the swimming performance was tested. The robot actuators were activated via rhythmic motor input from a central pattern generator (CPG). Experimental results showed that the swimming speed was highly sensitive to the frequency of the motor input, with a maximum swimming speed of 130 mm/s (equivalent to 0.7 body length per second) at 6 Hz. The robot also had the capability to correct its heading with IMU feedback and follow desired paths using a line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law with an overhead camera. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the robot's design and its potential in a variety of aquatic applications.
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U2 - 10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341571
DO - 10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341571
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85182526690
T3 - IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
SP - 6645
EP - 6651
BT - 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2023
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2023
Y2 - 1 October 2023 through 5 October 2023
ER -