水下仿生扑翼机器人的发展现状综述

参照蝠鲼等鱼类游动方式所研制的水下仿生扑翼机器人具有效率高、机动性强、负载能力大等多方面优势。由于其广阔的应用前景,水下仿生扑翼机器人已逐步成为水下航行器领域的研究热点。本文系统地将蝠鲼的生物学特性、机器人的结构设计、动力学模型、单体运动控制、集群运动控制以及实验研究等方面的国内外研究进展进行了总结和梳理。已有的研究表明：水下仿生扑翼机器人正在朝着软体化、集群化、 高机动等方向发展,新兴的水下仿生扑翼机器人及仿生集群能够更加精确的模拟真实生物的游动姿态,并开展相关任务。当下的研究为水下仿生扑翼机器人性能的进一步优化与提升奠定了坚实的理论与实践基础。     

Mechanics and control of swimming: a review

The bodies and brains of fish have evolved to achieve control objectives beyond the capabilities of current underwater vehicles. One route toward designing underwater vehicles with similar capabilities is to better understand fish physiological design and control strategies. This paper has two objectives: 1) to review clues to artificial swimmer design taken from fish physiology and 2) to formalize and review the control problems that must be solved by a robot fish. The goal is to exploit fish locomotion principles to address the truly difficult control challenges of station keeping under large perturbations, rapid maneuvering, power-efficient endurance swimming, and trajectory planning and tracking. The design and control of biomimetic swimming machines meeting these challenges will require state-of-the-art engineering and biology.     

Trends in biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicles

The emergence of biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) as a focus for discipline-integrated research in the context of underwater propulsion and maneuvering is considered within the confines of the Biorobotics Program in the Office of Naval Research. The significant advances in three disciplines, namely the biology-inspired high-lift unsteady hydrodynamics, artificial muscle technology and neuroscience-based control, are discussed in an effort to integrate them into viable products. The understanding of the mechanisms of delayed stall, molecular design of artificial muscles and the neural approaches to the actuation of control surfaces is reviewed in the context of devices based on the pectoral fins of fish, while remaining focused on their integrated implementation in biorobotic AUVs. A mechanistic understanding of the balance between cruising and maneuvering in swimming animals and undersea vehicles is given. All aquatic platforms, in both nature and engineering, except during short duration burst speeds that are observed in a few species, appear to lie within the condition where their natural period of oscillation equals the time taken by them to travel the distance of their own lengths. Progress in the development of small underwater experimental biorobotic vehicles is considered where the three aforementioned disciplines are integrated into one novel maneuvering device or propulsor. The potential in maneuvering and silencing is discussed.     

水下机器人标准体系框架构建探索

水下机器人作为一类特种机器人,日益成为探索海洋奥秘、开发海洋资源的重要工具,被称为海洋高技术的皇冠,正逐步成为国家间海洋技术竞争的制高点。水下机器人标准体系最直接的作用是指导、规范水下机器人标准制定工作,使人们清楚水下机器人标准化工作方向和重点,有助于推动水下机器人研发和产业化进程,促进快速、健康发展。文章在介绍国内外水下机器人标准制订的基础上,探讨水下机器人标准体系框架构建思路,提出标准体系建设路径,明确水下机器人标准化工作范围和领域,并构建了水下机器人标准体系序列结构、三维结构、层次结构3种框架模型,为构建我国水下机器人标准体系提供了有价值的参考。     

Survey of underwater robot positioning navigation

Underwater robot positioning and navigation achieve autonomous underwater robot movement based on the premise that positioning obtains the coordinates of the relative position of the underwater robot using a sensor, and navigation yields a known location to the destination path planning. Due to the location of an underwater robot and the complex and changing environment in which it operates, it is difficult to achieve precise positioning using the traditional positioning method. This paper systematically analyzes and summarizes several typical localization and navigation methods of underwater robots, such as multisensor information fusion technology, underwater acoustic localization and navigation methods, GPS buoy, underwater vision, SLAM and coordinate localization and navigation of multiple underwater robots. Multisensory information fusion technology integrates the advantages of the above methods, enhances the system stability and robustness, overcomes the disadvantages of traditional positioning and navigation, and enables the autonomous navigation and positioning of underwater robots. Underwater acoustics enable flexible and convenient positioning, whereas GPS can achieve high-precision and high-positioning navigation information, and visual positioning effectively overcomes the problem of error accumulation. Multirobot cooperative positioning resolves the problem of positioning failure caused by the collapse of a single system and completes complex tasks that cannot be completed by a single robot, thus enhancing the stability and robustness of the system. This paper systematically describes the realization of these methods, presents an actual analysis of their respective advantages and problems, and discusses the development of the field of research prospects and application prospects.     

Designing future underwater vehicles: principles and mechanisms of the weakly electric fish

Future underwater vehicles will be increasingly called upon to work in cluttered environments and to interact with their surroundings. These vehicles will need sensors that work efficiently at short range and be highly maneuverable at low speed. To obtain insights into principles and mechanisms of low-speed operation in cluttered environments, we examine a fish that excels in this regime, the black ghost knifefish Apteronotus albifrons. This fish hunts in dark or turbid water using a short-range self-generated electric field to sense its surroundings. Coupled with this unique mode of sensing is an unusual ribbon fin propulsion system that confers high multidirectional maneuverability at low speeds. To better understand the relationship between body morphology and common maneuvers of this fish, we utilized an idealized ellipsoidal body model, Kirchhoff's equations, and an optimal control algorithm for generating trajectories. We present evidence that common fish trajectories are optimal, and that these trajectories complement the sensory abilities of the fish. We also discuss prototypes of the sensing and propulsion systems of the fish with a view to providing alternative approaches for underwater vehicle design where high maneuverability in geometrically complex environments is needed.     

A novel maneuverable propeller for improving maneuverability and propulsive performance of underwater vehicles

The existing propulsor that can perform both propulsion and maneuvering along axis of rotation is propeller/rotor for a helicopter. Helicopter propellers when maneuvering increase or decrease their blades’ pitch cyclically to create imbalanced thrust and hence maneuvering force/torque. A “maneuverable propeller” was developed and its performance on both maneuvering and propulsion is assessed. The “maneuverable propeller” is an alternative of the existing helicopter rotors. The novelty of this propulsor is that the imbalanced thrust force/torque is created by cyclically increasing or decreasing the angular speed of their blades relatively to the hubs/shafts, to provide the desired maneuvering torque. This maneuverable propeller is hence defined as the Cyclic Blade Variable Rotational Speed Propeller (CBVRP). One of the best advantages is that the maneuvering torque created by the “maneuverable propeller” is much higher, about 5 times of the shaft torque of the same propeller at thrust only mode. The “maneuverable propeller” has wide applications for both surface ships and underwater vehicles that require high maneuverability for cruising inside the narrow passage.     

A navigational primitive: biorobotic implementation of cycloptic helical klinotaxis in planar motion

A broad diversity of microorganisms and larval aquatic animals swim along a helical trajectory. Helical movement toward or away from stimuli involves the detection of gradients, alteration of the helical trajectory, and gradient tracking. Using sensory and neural circuitry models from swimming simulations of tadpole-like ascidian larvae (Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Urochordata), we built and tested a single-sensor, surface-swimming, tail-flapping robot that swims up a light gradient and holds station at an orbital around an area of high intensity. We implemented the same neural circuitry in a terrestrial, wheeled robot with a single photoresistor; it exhibited similar navigational behavior. We also mathematically modeled single-sensor robots navigating in plane. The simulated robots showed the importance of sensor placement and excitation field on navigational behavior. When the sensor placement and excitation field of the simulated robot matched that of the embodied robots, navigational behavior was similar. These results 1) tested and supported a proposed neural circuitry model, 2) showed the simplicity and effectiveness of using a single light sensor for navigation, and 3) demonstrated the use of helical motion in two dimensions.     

Maneuvering modeling and simulation of AUV dynamic systems with Euler-Rodriguez quaternion method

The purpose of this study is to develop maneuvering models and systems of a simulator to improve the motion performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) at the preliminary design stages in advance. The AUVs simulation systems based on the standard submarine equations of motion in six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) integrated with the Euler-Rodriguez quaternion method for representing singularity-free AUV attitude and time-saving calculation, and with a nonlinear control model for maneuvering and depth control simulations, time-marching in the fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme. For validation of the simulation codes, results of the ISiMI AUV open-loop tests including turning test and zigzag test as well as an AUV simulator on the basis of Euler-angle method were used to compare with the quaternion-based AUV simulator. The computational results from the proposed simulator agree well with those from both the ISiMI AUV experiments and the Euler-angle based simulations. Additionally, a new maneuvering procedure, namely "put-out" was implemented to test directional stability for a large-scale AUV in the proposed AUV simulator that can be considered for vehicles in space as well as in constrained planes.     

Zero-G Class Underwater Robots: Unrestricted Attitude Control Using Control Moment Gyros

The "Zero-G" is designated as a new class of underwater robot that is capable of unrestricted attitude control. A novel control scheme based on internal actuation using control moment gyros (CMGs) is developed to provide Zero-G class autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with this unique freedom in control. This is implemented in the CMG-actuated Zero-G class internal kinematic underwater robot actuation (IKURA) system that was developed as part of this research. A series of experiments are performed to demonstrate the practical application of CMGs and verify the associated theoretical developments. The ability to actively stabilize the translational dynamics of the robot is assessed and unrestricted attitude control is demonstrated in an experiment that involves vertically pitched diving and surfacing in surge. Finally, potential applications for Zero-G class AUVs are discussed.     

Structure and mechanics of nonpiscine control surfaces

Animals display a variety of control surfaces that can be used for propulsion and maneuvering devises. For nonpiscine vertebrates, these control surfaces are primarily evolutionary modifications of the paired appendages (i.e., legs). The diversity of control surfaces can be classified with regard to the forces used for stability and maneuverability. For animals, the pertinent forces are pressure drag, acceleration reaction, and lift. These forces can be generated actively by motion of the control surfaces or passively from flows produced by movements of the body or external flow fields. Drag-based control surfaces are associated with paddling and rowing movements, where the limbs are oriented either in the vertical parasagittal plane or horizontal plane, respectively. The paddle is unstreamlined and has a triangular design with a broad distal end, thereby affecting a large mass of water. Appendages, which are used to generate lift-based forces, are relatively stiff hydrofoils. To maximize lift, the hydrofoil should have a crescent wing-like design with high aspect ratio. This shape provides the hydrofoil with a high lift-to-drag ratio and high propulsive efficiency. The tail flukes of cetaceans are streamlined control surfaces with a wing-like design. The flukes of cetaceans function in the hydrodynamic generation of forces for thrust, stability, and maneuverability. The three-dimensional geometry of flukes is associated with the production of lift and drag. Previous studies of fluke geometry have been limited in the number of species examined and the resolution of measurements.     

An Integrated Hydrodynamics and Control Model of A Tethered Underwater Robot

An integrated hydrodynamics and control model to simulate tethered underwater robot system is proposed. The governing equation of the umbilical cable is based on a finite difference method, the hydrodynamic behaviors of the underwater robot are described by the six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion for submarine simulations, and a controller based on the fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) algorithm is also incorporated. Fluid motion around the main body of moving robot with running control ducted propellers is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations and these nonlinear differential equations are solved numerically via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The hydrodynamics and control behaviors of the tethered underwater robot under certain designated trajectory and attitude control manipulation are then investigated based on the established hydrodynamics and control model. The results indicate that satisfactory control effect can be achieved and hydrodynamic behavior under the control operation can be observed with the model; much kinematic and dynamic information about tethered underwater robot system can be forecasted, including translational and angular motions of the robot, hydrodynamic loading on the robot, manipulation actions produced by the control propellers, the kinematic and dynamic behaviors of the umbilical cable. Since these hydrodynamic effects are fed into the proposed coupled model, the mutual hydrodynamic influences of different portions of the robot system as well as the hydrological factors of the undersea environment for the robot operation are incorporated in the model.     

Open-Loop Control of a Multifin Biorobotic Rigid Underwater Vehicle

This paper presents an open-loop control system for a new experimental vehicle, named the biorobotic autonomous underwater vehicle (BAUV). The rigid cylindrical hull of the vehicle is attached with six strategically located fins to produce forces and moments in all orthogonal directions and axes with minimal redundancy. The fins are penguin-wing inspired and they implement the unsteady high-lift principle found widely in swimming and flying animals. The goal has been to design an underwater vehicle that is highly maneuverable by taking the inspiration from nature where unsteady hydrodynamic principles of lift generation and the phase synchronization of fins are common. We use cycle-averaged experimental data to analyze the hydrodynamic forces and moments produced by a single foil as a function of its kinematic motion parameters. Given this analysis, we describe a method for synthesizing and coordinating the sinusoidal motion of all six foils to produce any desired resultant mean force and moment vectors on the vehicle. The mathematics behind the resulting algorithm is elegant and effective, yielding compact and efficient implementation code. The solution method also considers and accommodates the inherent physical constraints of the foil actuators. We present laboratory experimental results that demonstrate the solution method and the vehicle's resulting high maneuverability.      

Bioinspired delayed stall propulsor

This paper provides an overview of a bioinspired delay stall propulsor (BDSP) concept that employs delayed stall unsteady lift enhancement to increase the lift on propeller blades without adding any complexity to the propulsor. This BDSP concept can provide greatly increased propeller thrust for a given propeller diameter, leading to both increased speed and/or maneuverability. Alternately, this technology offers reduced radiated noise while maintaining current thrust levels through reduction in both propulsor rotation speed and acoustic cancellation. Preliminary two-dimensional simulations have shown a potential 36% reduction in rotational speed at constant thrust, leading to an estimated 4-dB reduction in the total radiated acoustic power. It is believed that the BDSP concept will be simple to manufacture, rugged, and easy to retrofit into existing marine propulsors. This technology has direct application to torpedoes, unmanned underwater vehicles, maneuvering thrusters, submarines, and other propeller-driven devices.     

Motion Analysis and Trials of the Deep Sea Hybrid Underwater Glider Petrel-II

A hybrid underwater glider Petrel-II has been developed and field tested. It is equipped with an active buoyancy unit and a compact propeller unit. Its working modes have been expanded to buoyancy driven gliding and propeller driven level-flight, which can make the glider work in strong currents, as well as many other complicated ocean environments. Its maximal gliding speed reaches 1 knot and the propelling speed is up to 3 knots. In this paper, a 3D dynamic model of Petrel-II is derived using linear momentum and angular momentum equations. According to the dynamic model, the spiral motion in the underwater space is simulated for the gliding mode. Similarly the cycle motion on water surface and the depth-keeping motion underwater are simulated for the level-flight mode. These simulations are important to the performance analysis and parameter optimization for the Petrel-II underwater glider. The simulation results show a good agreement with field trials.     

一种新概念潜浮平台操纵性仿真研究

新概念潜浮平台是一种全新的船型,在建造实船之前对其操纵性能进行全面评估非常重要.首先在模型操纵性试验和理论分析的基础上建立考虑波浪干扰力和力矩作用的平台操纵运动数学模型,并用Simulink建立图形化的动力学仿真程序.基于该程序对水面和水下各种操纵情况进行仿真和分析,并就平台在波浪中的操纵性进行研究.仿真结果表明该平台具有良好的操纵性能,从而验证了设计,并为今后运动控制系统的设计提供了一个验证平台.     

Motion Analysis and Trials of the Deep Sea Hybrid Underwater Glider Petrel-Ⅱ

A hybrid underwater glider Petrel-II has been developed and field tested. It is equipped with an active buoyancy unit and a compact propeller unit. Its working modes have been expanded to buoyancy driven gliding and propeller driven level-flight, which can make the glider work in strong currents, as well as many other complicated ocean environments. Its maximal gliding speed reaches 1 knot and the propelling speed is up to 3 knots. In this paper, a 3D dynamic model of Petrel-II is derived using linear momentum and angular momentum equations. According to the dynamic model, the spiral motion in the underwater space is simulated for the gliding mode. Similarly the cycle motion on water surface and the depth-keeping motion underwater are simulated for the level-flight mode. These simulations are important to the performance analysis and parameter optimization for the Petrel-II underwater glider.The simulation results show a good agreement with field trials.     

Autopilot control synthesis for path tracking maneuvers of underwater vehicles

This paper is concerned with the robust control synthesis of autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) for general path following maneuvers.First,we present maneuvering kinematics and vehicle dynamics in a unified framework.Based on H∞ loop-shaping procedure,the 2-DOF autopilot controller has been presented to enhance stability and path tracking.By use of model reduction,the high-order control system is reduced to one with reasonable order,and further the scaled low-order controller has been analyzed in both the frequency and the time domains.Finally,it is shown that the autopilot control system provides robust performance and stability against prescribed levels of uncertainty.     

结合固定翼飞机原理重水潜器设计

结合固定翼飞机与潜器设计原理设计了一种密度大于水的潜器——重水潜器,它利用机翼升力平衡剩余重量,外形就像固定翼飞机。由理论分析可知在有效载荷和航行速度相同的情况下重水潜器较常规潜器的体积有明显减小,而以中高速航行时重水潜器阻力优势明显。根据固定翼飞机与潜器设计原理相结合的设计方法制作的重水潜器样机进行水池试航时顺利完成直航、水平回转、爬升、下潜等规定动作,并表现出良好的稳定性和操纵性,从而证明了该设计方法的可实现性。