A review study on bio-inspired robotic fish

Abstract

The paper presents a comprehensive review of design, modelling and performance parameters of robotic fish. Bio-robotics capitalises on the natural behaviours of biological systems to facilitate new designs for robots. The propulsion mechanism employed by natural fishes is imitated for designing of robotic fishes. Fishes have two locomotion modes, body and/or caudal fin (BCF) mode and median and/or paired fin (MPF) mode. These modes have been studied in this paper, so as to facilitate easy selection of a specific mode according to the application. A robotic fish system includes different subsystems (such as mechanical unit, control unit and actuation unit). These along with various materials and components used in these subsystems have been overviewed. Further study has been carried out to understand the dynamic characteristics of a robotic fish model. Performance parameters of the robotic fish are discussed in this paper. Various innovative approaches towards designing of robotic fish and the issues that need to be resolved are also discussed.