Design and Locomotion Control of a Dactylopteridae-Inspired Biomimetic Underwater Vehicle With Hybrid Propulsion

This article presents the design and implementation of an innovative biomimetic underwater vehicle (BUV) and its locomotion controller. Through mimicking a dactylopteridae, the hybrid propulsion BUV is designed with two symmetrical bio-inspired long-fins and a double-joint fishtail. The mechatronic design of the dactylopteridae-inspired BUV with the pectoral long-fins and a double-joint fishtail is first provided. The two flexible long-fins compose the median and/or paired fin (MPF) propulsion, while the fishtail acts as the body and/or caudal fin (BCF) propulsion. Through the coordination of BCF and MPF propulsion modes, the BUV obtains excellent low-speed locomotion stability and also keeps high maneuverability. Moreover, the locomotion control methods based on central pattern generators (CPGs) model and fuzzy adaptive proportion integral differential (PID) are proposed for this BUV. In the end, the experimental results of the multimode motion and closed-loop motion control demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the mechanism and the locomotion control system. Note to Practitioners —The motivation behind this article is the design of a novel biomimetic underwater vehicle (BUV) that possesses low-speed locomotion stability and fast swimming ability, which is suitable for carrying relevant sensors to complete water quality monitoring, biological observation, underwater equipment inspection, underwater structure detection, and other marine tasks. Currently, BUVs are usually designed as only one propulsion mode by caudal fin or paired fins, which makes it difficult to have the advantages of both modes. In order to further study the problem, we designed a dactylopteridae-inspired BUV with the bilateral pectoral long-fins (providing low-speed locomotion stability) and a double-joint fishtail (providing fast swimming ability). A hybrid-driven motion control framework is presented for the BUV based on a central pattern generators (CPGs) model and fuzzy adaptive proportion integral differential (PID). A series of experiments suggests that the mechanism and the locomotion control system are practical and valid. Hopefully, our mechanism and control framework can provide valuable theoretical and technical support guidance to the practicing marine engineer for the codesign of propulsion mode and control.