Motion Analysis and Design of Bionic Swimming Robot

Targeting transport is an emerging field in the medical industry that is attempting to obtain a more precise cure for the diseased area. This transport process requires a robot transporter to reach the target. This project aims to develop an E. coli-based swimming robot for precisely delivering medicine to the appointed target area. Key parameters influencing motion are selected through preliminary kinematic analysis in a uniform, viscous fluid. By using the recursion method and differential equation calculation, this project simulated the trajectory related to the robot’s movement and derived the controlling equation. Computer Aided Design (CAD) models are developed under macroscopic dimensions and simulations are performed in liquid environments for validation under microscopic dimensions. A path planning algorithm and a control program with feedback and feedforward control are also developed to stabilize the system. This project has tested the feasibility of different motions under different sets of design specifications and thrust setups, and optimized the related design specifications in the unified viscous flow by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. In addition, a control system for the swimmer’s obstacle avoidance and path planning was designed, based on the thrust configurations as inputs. The influence of environment parameters and the robot’s structure is investigated. A robot model capable of moving in a two-dimensional environment is developed correspondingly, which supports further studies’ field tests of micro-robots targeting transport.