Bio-inspired Underwater Undulatory Motion by using Polypyrrole Bimorph Actuator

In this paper, development of PPy actuator based undulatory underwater robotic motion is presented. For generation of undulatory motion, the PPy actuator has been implemented as the body or tail in a tadpole like robot. The PPy actuator is fixed inside the head region of the tadpole like robot prototype and set to behave like a cantilever. On supplying AC voltage, the PPy actuator experiences transverse bending similar to lateral body undulation in natural tadpole. The motion of the prototype is modeled by using Lighthils elongated body theory along with electro-visco-mechanical actuation of PPy actuator operates in underwater medium. Following this, the real time swimming experiment has been carried out in a still water tank. It has been found that, the PPy actuator based tail exhibit undulatory motion with significant high displacement and thrust on applying 1. 3Volt and 1Hz frequency. The tail beat frequency and speed of the robot is near to natural tadpole, hence the proposed work may use for various underwater applications like surveillance, environmental monitoring and pollution detection.