Abstract

Rays are very efficient swimmers. Their major swimming modes are “mobuliform” , which occurs as the pectoral fins flap up and down, and “rajiform”, defined as having one or more waves present on the fin at a time, which can create great maneuverability and various movements. Recently, these swimming locomotion mechanisms have been gathering attention as the next generation of Bio-inspired Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (BAUV). In this paper, we developed a prototype robot based on the knowledge about the morphological features of stingray that are important to achieve these swimming behaviors. We proposed a new underwater propulsion mechanism for BAUVs.we evaluate and validate the performance of our developed bio-inspired underwater robot, and we also discuss the features and elements that are important in the implementation of underwater propulsion mechanism by these ray-like locomotion.