An Efficient Bio-Inspired Strategy for Motion Control of a Fish Robot to Swim in Different Forward Velocities

This paper attempts to find inspiration from nature to propose an energy-efficient motion control strategy for fish robots. Here, two phenomena of real fish in swimming are presented to be studied. To investigate the aforementioned phenomena, an optimization framework in terms of propulsion efficiency is proposed for optimizing flapping motion. By using the GA algorithm in the simulation environment, the optimal solutions are obtained for a sample two-segmental fish robot in different forward velocities. The obtained results of the fish robot are compared with the aforementioned phenomena in real fish. Accordingly, a method for motion control of the fish robot is proposed for forward swimming in different desired velocities. Finally, Scotch-Yoke mechanism is proposed to be used in fish robots to achieve efficient swimming, and a fish robot is designed based on this mechanism.