Design and Experiments with a Low-Cost Single-Motor Modular Aquatic Robot
This work addresses the need for low-cost aquatic robots for modular and swarming applications, though it is incremental as it builds on existing concepts with specific design improvements.
The researchers tackled the problem of creating an affordable robotic boat for modular and swarming uses by designing a prototype powered by a single motor, which converts motion into paddling for propulsion and steering, but they identified significant mechanical sensitivities and proposed an improved design.
We present a novel design for a low-cost robotic boat powered by a single actuator, useful for both modular and swarming applications. The boat uses the conservation of angular momentum and passive flippers to convert the motion of a single motor into an adjustable paddling motion for propulsion and steering. We develop design criteria for modularity and swarming and present a prototype implementing these criteria. We identify significant mechanical sensitivities with the presented design, theorize about the cause of the sensitivities, and present an improved design for future work.