Design, Manufacture and Control of a Skeletal Muscle Based Dolphin-Inspired Bio-Syncretic Robot

To address the issues of a small driving force and low driving efficiency in bio-syncretic robots, a dolphin-inspired bio-syncretic robot was designed and fabricated with a flexible polydimethylsiloxane structure as its main body and the skeletal muscle of bullfrogs as a biological driving energy source, inspired by the gentle tail-slapping motion of dolphins in nature. Subsequently, fluid-structure interaction simulation methods were employed in COMSOL software, and 56 working conditions were set up to explore suitable tail control strategies for the robot. Through analysis of the simulation results, the optimal control strategy was identified (with a stimulation frequency of 1 Hz and a duty cycle of 20%). Finally, the appropriate stimulation voltage for the biological material was explored, and the manufactured bio-syncretic robot with the optimal tail-slapping control strategy was verified. The results demonstrated that under the optimal control strategy, the bio-syncretic robot could achieve the gentle tail-slapping motion of dolphins, which contributes to improving the driving efficiency of bio-syncretic robots.