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Presented by:
S. Naisha Sulthana
B.Tech II year(2008-2012)
Information Technology
G.Pullaiah college of
Engineering&Technology
Kurnool.
Abstract: described, emphasizing both the
technical approaches and the learning
paradigms. The developed robotic fish
In this paper an innovative will be further used as a research tool
approach to robotics education is for investigating multi- robot
reported, where hands-on learning is collaborative sensing.
integrated with cutting-edge research
I. INTRODUCTION
in the development of an autonomous,
Biomimetic swimming robots
biomimetic robotic fish. The project
have wide (potential) applications,
aims to develop an energy efficient,
ranging from ocean sampling [1] and
noiseless, untethered swimming robot
defense [2] at the meter scale, to pipe
for mobile sensing purposes. The robot
inspection at the centimeter scale [3],
is propelled by an ionic polymer- metal
to micro-surgery at the millimeter to
composite (IPMC) actuator and
micrometer scale [4]. For millimeter to
equipped with a GPS receiver, a
centimeter-size robots, smart material
ZigBee wireless communication
actuators have been explored for
module, a microcontroller, and a
propulsion due to their higher energy
temperature sensor for autonomous
conversion efficiency and quieter
navigation, control, and sensing. The
two phases of the development are
operation compared to and (in the future) for forming fish
traditional motors. These include shape networks. A GPS receiver and a digital
memory alloy actuators [5], [6], compass, together with the navigation
piezoelectric actuators [3], and and control algorithms, will allow the
electroactive polymer actuators [7]– robot to autonomously execute
[10], to name a few. Ionic missions such as reconnaissance in
polymermetal composites (IPMCs) are hostile waters and environmental
a particularly promising class of monitoring.
actuation materials for underwater The appealing nature of the
robots [7]–[11], since they produce project provides ideal handson learning
large bending motions under low and research opportunities for a wide
voltages (1 – 2 V), work well in water spectrum of students, from high-school
and other fluids, and are flexible and students to graduate students. An
biocompatible [12], [13]. emphasis of this paper is to share our
In this paper the development experiences in engaging diversified,
of an IPMC actuatorpropelled, cross-disciplinary undergraduate teams
autonomous robotic fish is presented. in research. Two novel approaches are
In this the integration of power, reported, which were adopted during
navigation, control, communication, the first two phases of the development
and sensing units, all inside the robotic of the robotic fish, respectively. These
fish are kept. Although a frequency approaches, to be briefly discussed
modulator and a microcontroller were next, have proven effective in boosting
used in the robotic tadpole for remote students’ interest in engineering and
control of actuation frequency and duty sciences, and in particular, in the field
cycle by Kim et al [10], ZigBee1, an of robotics.
increasingly popular wireless The first generation of the
communication protocol for sensor wireless robotic fish was developed by
networks, is implemented in this paper a team of six students, supported by
for communicating general information the Diversity Programs Office at
(user commands, sensing data, etc.) Michigan State University
(www.egr.msu.edu/dpo). The makeup allows one to monitor and control the
of the team was highly diversified: one robot via a PC or PDA device
high-schooler, one freshman, one The remainder of the paper is
sophomore, one junior, and two organized as follows. The development
seniors. Among the undergraduate of the first prototype is described in
students, three were from Electrical Section II. Section III presents the
and Computer Engineering and two implementation details of the second
from Mechanical Engineering. prototype. Concluding remarks and
Furthermore, the majority of the team future work are discussed in Section
members came from underrepresented IV.
groups: two were females, and three II. A RADIO-CONTROLLED
were minority students (African
SWIMMING ROBOT
American or Hispanic). The structure
of the team enabled students to gain As illustrated in Fig. 1, the
research experiences at early stages of design task was first divided into
their study, to teach each other thus electrical modules and mechanical
facilitating learning, to appreciate the modules, and then all components are
importance of an interdisciplinary integrated into a working prototype.
perspective, and to develop the respect
for a multi-culture work environment.
Starting from scratch, the team
successfully built a working prototype
that could be remotely controlled
through a radio controller.
The second phase of the
development has been carried out as a
Capstone design project by a group of
five senior students in Electrical and
Computer Engineering. Taking the first
prototype as a starting point, the group
has made a number of improvements
in navigation, communication, control,
A. Onboard Power,
sensing, and packaging, thus bringing
the fish much closer to the envisioned
Communication, and Control
mobile sensing applications. In Circuitry
addition, a Graphical User Interface
(GUI) has also been developed, which
The mobile nature of a swimming the advances in sensors and
networking technologies [15].
robot excludes the possibility of
powering the robot through wires from However, the power harnessed through
off robot sources. It would be nice if IPMC materials is at the order of
the robot can be powered wirelessly or nanowatts [16], far below the power
through energy scavenging. Although required for operation of an IPMC-
propelled robotic fish (order of 100
inductive coupling has been
demonstrated to power IPMC-based milliwatts). Therefore, the only viable
option for power is onboard batteries.
toy fish [14], this is only applicable to
Both lithium coin cell batteries and
confined environments with limited
ranges, such as a fish tank. Power conventional alkaline batteries (AAA
and AA) were explored. The lithium
harvesting from ambient sources (such
as vibrations) is of special interest with ones had an excellent capacity-to-size
ratio and were chosen in the final
prototype considering the size
constraints. The output voltage of 3 V
could generate enough bending in the
IPMC actuator while limiting the
power consumed in electrolysis.
Remote control of the robot
was the primary goal for the first-
generation prototype. Instead of
seeking a general communication
solution (which was later achieved in
the second generation), a radio remote
was adopted to send four different
commands, Fast Forward, Slow
Forward, Left Turn and Right Turn.
The radio receiver from a Zip ZapsTM
toy car decoded the command, which
was then used by a
microcontroller PIC12F509 for B. Fish Body Design and Packaging
generating appropriate output signals. It is desirable for the swimming
Since the microcontroller could only robot to have a real fishlike
source 25 mA on any output pin while appearance. In addition, a packaging
the IPMC actuator could draw as much scheme needs to be developed to
as 300 mA at the peak, a pair of protect all electronics onboard, yet
MOSFETs (International Rectifier leaving easy access for battery
F7307) was placed following the replacement. Although the initial
microcontroller outputs to provide design of the fish body and waterproof
sufficient current. Metallic clamps for packaging was not very successful, the
the IPMC actuator (Environmental development effort will be described
Robots, Inc., Albuquerque, NM) would next since it provides valuable lessons
also function as heat sinks once the for later improvement.
circuit is sealed. The microcontroller The original design had three
board and the radio receiver board components, going inward from the
were placed back to back for efficient outermost layer: a flexible, waterproof,
use of space inside the fish-shaped outer layer as skin, a light
robotic fish (see Fig. 2). inner filler to support the skin, and a
structure to hold the controller/receiver
board in place. Latex Rubber,
manufactured by Woodland Scenics
R_2, was chosen to be used as the skin
material. The rubber comes as a liquid
stored in a plastic bottle, and it
solidifies after painted on a surface and
left to dry for about an hour. Multiple
layers can be painted to obtain the
desired thickness. A mold was
fabricated from a rapid tooling
machine (CNC mill) for painting the
rubber to make the skin follow a fish
shape, as shown in Fig. 3. RenShape
R_3, a polyurethane/epoxy board, is a actuator could be further optimized.
desired mold material since it provides Although a plate-like tail has a larger
a nice rough surface for the latex area for thrust than a beam- like tail, it
rubber to grip to while in its liquid does not produce as much forward-
form. thrust bending as the beam-shaped tail
The circuit board was placed inside an does since the upper and lower edges
insulation tube (typically used for also bend towards each other.
copper pipes), and the open ends were III. A ROBOTIC FIS H-BAS ED
sealed using a silicone adhesive. An M OBILE S ENS ING PLATFORM
expanding foam, Great Stuff TM from
Dow Chemical Company4 was then The development of the first-
used as a filler material based on its generation prototype provided valuable
ability to expand in an enclosed area groundwork for the design and
and harden, creating a firm yet implementation of the second-
lightweight supporting structure. generation robotic fish. Named NEMO
(Navigating EAP-Controlled Module
with Onboard Resources), it was
envisioned to carry out mobile sensing
tasks by incorporating advanced
navigation, communication, and
control capabilities.
A. Design Overview