Development of Robotic Fish with Various Swimming Functions

The authors developed several types of robotic fish that swim with fins that apply flexible oscillating fin technology. The new type one is the Carp Robot, whose artificial appearance was created through three-dimensional CAD processing of numerical data for the outer shape of living carp sampled through three-dimensional laser measurements. Although these types of robotic fish were developed for the amusement field, they are thought to contain key technologies for the development of work robots in the future. For example, "mechatronics" technology involving center-of-gravity shifts and buoyancy adjustments for swimming in water, FM radio wave technology for navigation, CCD image data transfer technology for observation, and other technologies were applied to the robotic fish. In this report the authors will first explain the basic steps involved in the development of robotic fish, and then report the results of development for the Carp Robot that were developed through the basic steps.