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Adaptable Soft Machines Laboratory

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2024 A Soft Robotic Morphing Wing for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

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작성자 최고관리자 작성일 25-04-07 10:36

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Author
Andrea Giordano⁺, Liam Achenbach⁺, Daniel Lenggenhager⁺, Fabian Wiesemüller+,*, Roger Vonbank, Claudio Mucignat, André Tristany Farinha, Pham Huy Nguyen, Robert Katzschmann, Sophie F Armanini, Ivan Lunati, Sukho Song, and Mirko Kovac*
Journal
Advanced Intelligent Systems
Page
2300702
Year
2024

Actuators based on soft elastomers offer significant advantages to the field of robotics, providing greater adaptability, improving collision resilience, and enabling shape-morphing. Thus, soft fluidic actuators have seen an expansion in their fields of application. Closed-cycle hydraulic systems are pressure agnostic, enabling their deployment in extremely high-pressure conditions, such as deep-sea environments. However, soft actuators have not been widely adopted on unmanned underwater vehicle control surfaces for deep-sea exploration due to their unpredictable hydrodynamic behavior when camber-morphing is applied. This study presents the design and characterization of a soft wing and investigates its feasibility for integration into an underwater glider. It is found that the morphing wing enables the glider to adjust the lift-to-drag ratio to adapt to different flow conditions. At the operational angle of attack of 12.5°, the lift-to-drag ratio ranges from −70% to +10% compared to a rigid version. Furthermore, it reduces the need for internal moving parts and increases maneuverability. The findings lay the groundwork for the real-world deployment of soft robotic principles capable of outperforming existing rigid systems. With the herein-described methods, soft morphing capabilities can be enabled on other vehicles.