Fish Locomotion: Biology and Robotics of Body and Fin-Based Movements

Lauder, George V.; Tangorra, James L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-46870-8_2

Cited by 36 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 120 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We performed the experiments in the flow tank at Harvard University, which is customized to house a computer-controlled external actuator. We used this system in the past to evaluate the swimming performance in a number of swimming mechanical models (5,(89)(90)(91). Here, we systematically moved the physical model with different tail kinematics and measured the total sum of forces acting on the whole body.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerating fishes increase propulsive efficiency by modulating vortex ring geometry

Akanyeti

Putney

Yanagitsuru

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Swimming animals need to generate propulsive force to overcome drag, regardless of whether they swim steadily or accelerate forward. While locomotion strategies for steady swimming are well characterized, far less is known about acceleration. Animals exhibit many different ways to swim steadily, but we show here that this behavioral diversity collapses into a single swimming pattern during acceleration regardless of the body size, morphology, and ecology of the animal. We draw on the fields of biomechanics, fluid dynamics, and robotics to demonstrate that there is a fundamental difference between steady swimming and forward acceleration. We provide empirical evidence that the tail of accelerating fishes can increase propulsive efficiency by enhancing thrust through the alteration of vortex ring geometry. Our study provides insight into how propulsion can be altered without increasing vortex ring size and represents a fundamental departure from our current understanding of the hydrodynamic mechanisms of acceleration. Our findings reveal a unifying hydrodynamic principle that is likely conserved in all aquatic, undulatory vertebrates.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerating fishes increase propulsive efficiency by modulating vortex ring geometry

Akanyeti

Putney

Yanagitsuru

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For biomechanics, the top box represents ways to mimic the biomechanics of the species or population of interest, and the lower box represents ways to quantify biomechanics in fishes. The robotic fish in this section is from [54]. The circled numbers represent the order in which particular components may be quantified when seeking to understand the biomechanics of speciation, and this is described in more detail in the text.…”

Section: Key Ecological Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speciation through the lens of biomechanics: locomotion, prey capture and reproductive isolation

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Speciation is a multifaceted process that involves numerous aspects of the biological sciences and occurs for multiple reasons. Ecology plays a major role, including both abiotic and biotic factors. Whether populations experience similar or divergent ecological environments, they often adapt to local conditions through divergence in biomechanical traits. We investigate the role of biomechanics in speciation using fish predator -prey interactions, a primary driver of fitness for both predators and prey. We highlight specific groups of fishes, or specific species, that have been particularly valuable for understanding these dynamic interactions and offer the best opportunities for future studies that link genetic architecture to biomechanics and reproductive isolation (RI). In addition to emphasizing the key biomechanical techniques that will be instrumental, we also propose that the movement towards linking biomechanics and speciation will include (i) establishing the genetic basis of biomechanical traits, (ii) testing whether similar and divergent selection lead to biomechanical divergence, and (iii) testing whether/how biomechanical traits affect RI. Future investigations that examine speciation through the lens of biomechanics will propel our understanding of this key process.

show abstract

“…Real fish provide many useful information, including swimming modes, mechanical properties (e.g. inertia and stiffness), and body shape (morphology), 2,5,38 for designing a robotic fish. Here, a thunniform fish with a length of 0.26 m is selected as a numerical example to illustrate the design of robotic fish.…”

Section: A Numerical Examplementioning

confidence: 99%

Design, analysis, and simulation of a planar serial–parallel mechanism for a compliant robotic fish with variable stiffness

Cui

Jiang

2016

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological evidence suggests that fish use muscles to stiffen their bodies and improve their swimming performance. Inspired by this phenomenon, we propose a planar serial-parallel mechanism with variable stiffness to mimic a swimming fish. Based on Lighthill's elongated-body theory, we present a general method to design the body stiffness, which is related to morphological parameters and the swimming frequency. The results show that the stiffness profile is directly proportional to the square of the driving frequency. Furthermore, a SimMechanics model of a robotic fish is innovatively built. Numerical results show that the fish with the designed stiffness has the maximum speed when the driving frequency is close to the resonance frequency of fish body, and that the maximum speed is linearly proportional to the resonance frequency. The range of the Strouhal number given by simulations is also consistent with the range 0.25 \ St \ 0.35 required by the optimal efficiency. All these results agree well with biological observations, indicating that the swimming performance of fish is significantly affected by the body stiffness and the driving frequency.

show abstract

Fish Locomotion: Biology and Robotics of Body and Fin-Based Movements

Cited by 36 publications

References 120 publications

Accelerating fishes increase propulsive efficiency by modulating vortex ring geometry

Accelerating fishes increase propulsive efficiency by modulating vortex ring geometry

Speciation through the lens of biomechanics: locomotion, prey capture and reproductive isolation

Design, analysis, and simulation of a planar serial–parallel mechanism for a compliant robotic fish with variable stiffness

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About