Fish-Like Underwater Microrobot with 3 DOF

It is our purpose to develop an underwater microrobot that has the characteristics of flexibility, driven by a low voltage, good response and safety in body. We have reported an underwater fish-like microrobot with 2 DOF that has the characteristics of flexibility, good response and safety in body before. In this paper, we propose a new prototype model of an underwater microrobot utilizing ICPF (Ionic Conducting Polymer Film) actuator as the servo actuator to realize swimming motion with 3 DOF. Biomimetic fish-like microrobot using ICPF actuator as a propulsion tail fin and a buoyancy adjuster for a microrobot swimming structure in water or aqueous medium is developed. The overall size of the underwater microrobot prototype shaped as a fish is 45mm in length, 10ram in width and 4mm in thickness. There is a pair of fins and a buoyancy adjuster. Characteristic of the underwater microrobot is measured by changing the frequency and amplitude of input voltage. The experimental results indicate that the swimming speed of proposed underwater micro robot can be controlled by changing the frequency of input voltage; the moving direction (upward or downward) can be controlled by changing the amplitude and the frequency of input voltage.