WPFBot: A Novel and Highly Mobile Amphibious Robot

This paper introduces WPFBot (Wheel-Paddle-Fin composite robot), an amphibious robot that features novel but simple mechanisms, versatile mobility both on terrestrial and underwater circumstances. It integrates six actuation modules which can be categorized into two kinds of structure, one is compliant propelling paddles used for thrusting underwater, the other is a wheel-fin composite structure for land moving and underwater ascent and descent control. It needs no additional operation for switching between land and water environments. We introduced in this paper the design of the prototype and demonstrated its rich motion functions through simulation and experiment methods.