Application of swimming functions of aquatic animals to autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper focuses on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with the types of accelerators and manoeuvres in the category of fish gates to perform precise manoeuvre such as hovering and turning at a certain point not only in survey of an intricate sea-bed, but also in dexterous manipulation in their floating condition. This paper summarizes the on going project on mechanical pectoral fin from the following three aspects: 1) manoeuvre of fish robot with a pair of two-motor-driven mechanical pectoral fins in horizontal plane; 2) control of interaction of forces and moment between an underwater vehicle in a free swimming condition and a manipulator by a pair of mechanical pectoral fins in horizontal plane; and 3) hydrodynamic characteristics of a pair of three-motor-driven mechanical pectoral fins which enables the fish robot to swim not only in horizontal plane, but also in vertical plane.