Jelly-Z: Twisted and coiled polymer muscle actuated jellyfish robot for environmental monitoring

Authors

  • Pawandeep Singh Matharu The University of Texas at Dallas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1179-7572
  • Akash Ashok Ghadge The University of Texas at Dallas
  • Yara Almubarak Wayne State University
  • Yonas Tadesse The University of Texas at Dallas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/acta_imeko.v11i3.1255

Abstract

Silent underwater actuation and object detection are desired for certain applications in environmental monitoring. However, several challenges need to be faced when addressing simultaneously the issues of actuation and object detection using vision system. This paper presents a swimming underwater soft robot inspired by the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) species and other similar robots; however, this robot uniquely utilizes novel artificial muscles and incorporates camera for visual information processing. The actuation characteristics of the novel artificial muscles in water are presented which can be used for any other applications. The bio-inspired robot, Jelly-Z, has the following characteristics: (1) The integration of three 60 mm-long twisted, and coiled polymer fishing line (TCPFL) muscles in a silicone bell to achieve contraction and expansion motions for swimming; (2) A Jevois camera is mounted on Jelly-Z to perform object detection while swimming using a pre-trained neural network; (3) Jelly-Z weighs a total of 215 g with all its components and is capable of swimming 360 mm in 63 seconds. The present work shows, for the first time, the integration of camera detection and TCPFL actuators in an underwater soft jellyfish robot, and the associated performance characteristics. This kind of robot can be a good platform for monitoring of aquatic environment either for detection of objects by estimating the percentage of similarity to pre-trained network or by mounting sensors to monitor water quality when fully developed.

Author Biographies

Pawandeep Singh Matharu, The University of Texas at Dallas

PhD Candidate(Research & Teaching Assistant) at Humanoids, Biorobotics and Smart Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas

Akash Ashok Ghadge, The University of Texas at Dallas

MS Student at Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas

Yara Almubarak, Wayne State University

Assistant Professor, SoRobotics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wayne State University

Yonas Tadesse, The University of Texas at Dallas

Associate Professor, Humanoids, Biorobotics and Smart Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas

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Published

2022-09-05

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 3 (2022)

Section

Research Papers

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