With the objective of finding alternatives to propellers for underwater propulsion, the robotics team at Caltech is testing different synthetic jet actuators. We studied a jellyfish-like actuator using mechanical arms and the addition of an elastic skin in the future. The robotic arms are powered with a servo motor through a ball screw. A program was developed to control the motion of the arms. The idea is to develop the mechanism into an autonomous underwater vehicle that can be used for marine research. One of the biggest challenges of the project was to keep the robot water proof. The mechanical jellyfish was hanged from a force sensor and thrust measurements were taken in a local pool. The actuator returned positive thrust measurements and we also found the expected inverted relationship between thrust and decreasing opening speed (keeping the closing speed of the arms constant).
Tags: MVI, 1125
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