A distributed control method for flexible robotic fish based on PDE

Abstract At present, research on flexible robotic fish has become a hot topic. Here, a novel dynamic model of flexible robotic fish is established, and a new control method for flexible robotic fish is proposed. Based on the Hamilton principle, the dynamic model of the flexible robotic fish is established by a partial differential equation, which obtains the relationship between the motion law and the force of the flexible robotic fish. The proposed control method produces the practical motion of flexible robotic fish along with any reference motion of flexible robotic fish, and it is proven that the attitude error is stable in a certain range by using the Lyapunov direct method and simulation. Control parameters are explored to reflect the influence on the control effect. For robotic fish, simulation results indicate that the proposed method can generate more than 10% greater propulsive force than some kinds of traditional control methods and improve the forward propelling efficiency of robotic fish.