NYU engineers have developed a fish-inspired robot that adjusts its body size to accommodate specific applications. The scalable fish robot, called ScaFi, is inspired by fish that swim by bending their bodies toward their tail ends.
Source: NYU
The engineers explained that current aquatic robots often must be individually designed and tested for different environments, such as creeks and lakes. They suggest that scalable robotic platforms like ScaFi could offer a single adaptable solution for waterways of different sizes and conditions.
ScaFi achieves this with its rigid front section and a flexible tail composed of fiberglass rods. A single motor pulls crossed tendons near the tail’s end, creating the S-shaped motion necessary for fish-like swimming. As the robot "scales up" to 9.5 ft, only the diameter of the tail rods needs to increase, while the underlying motor and tendon mechanism remains unchanged.
This design could simplify the development of fish-like robots for different environments and provide a consistent platform for studying how swimming performance changes with robot size.
An article detailing the fish, “ScaFi: length-scalable, compliant, parametric robotic fish design for operation in multiple environmental niches,” appears in the journal npj Robotics.
For more on the robot, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of NYU.
