Design and modeling of biomimetic soft jellyfish robots with IPMC actuators (Conference Presentation)

Smart materials and soft robotics have been seen to be particularly well suited for developing biomimetic devices and are active fields of research. In this presentation, the design, modeling, and optimization of a new biomimetic soft robot is discussed. In particular, we will discuss the modeling of a biomimetic robot based on the locomotion and kinematics of jellyfish. Modifications were made to the governing equations for jellyfish locomotion that accounted for geometric differences between biology and the robotic design. Particularly, the capability of the model to account for the mass and geometry of the robot design. Also, the linear beam theory is coupled to an equivalent circuit model to actuate the robot with ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators. The newly created physics-based model of the soft robot is compared to that of the geometric model as well as biological jellyfish swimming to highlight its improved efficiency. The optimized design shows clear improvement over the unoptimized counterpart, with the newly proposed biomimetic swimming mode offering enhanced swimming efficiency.