Effect of Jet Coordination on Underwater Propulsion with the Multi-Robot SALP System

Salps, marine invertebrates known for their collective swimming through coordinated jet propulsion, offer a unique model for efficient underwater movement. Inspired by this biological system, we develop the SALP (Salp-inspired Approach to Low-energy Propulsion) robot, a soft underwater robot that swims via jet propulsion similarly to a biological salp. The SALPs can be physically connected into SALP chains and coordinate their jets to achieve various propulsion modes. In our experiments, we compare the swimming performance of the individual SALP with the two-SALP system, focusing on power, acceleration, velocity, and energy efficiency. Results indicate that two SALPs swimming synchronously exhibit a 9.0% increase in steady-state velocity and a 16.6% improvement in transient acceleration compared to a single SALP. Additionally, our analysis of swimming efficiency implies that asynchronous swimming is potentially more energy efficient than the synchronous mode, as reflected by a decrease in the cost of transport (COT).