A Novel and High-efficiency Razor Clam Inspired Burrowing Robot that Utilizes Localized Fluidization Mechanism

Nowadays, as underwater exploration and scientific research become increasingly important, the new underwater equipment puts forward new requirements for the functions of burrowing and anchoring, and hopes to integrate multiple functions. Razor clam can borrow efficiently and anchor firmly by using the local fluidization mechanism. Therefore, we took design inspiration from the razor clam and imitated its structure and movement mechanism to design a burrowing robot. The robot is divided into two parts: the driving part and the end-effector part. The end-effector is the main part of the robot which causes local fluidization of the soil by making its shell move in a radial direction. Through the mechanical analysis of the end-effector part to verify that it can complete the function of efficient burrowing. Let the robot burrows in the soil to explore the relationship between how long it burrows and how deep it burrows, and by testing the situation when the robot does not use the localized fluidization mechanism for burrowing to compared with the previous experiment, which fully verified its efficient burrowing ability and the advantages of this design compared with the normal burrowing equipment. The anchoring force of the robot in the soil is also obtained through experiments. The above experimental results can prove that the design of this robot can meet the requirements of burrowing and anchoring functions.