Low-Cost Fish-Based Soft Robot Development for Underwater Environment

Due to the ability to perform various maritime activities flexibly and reduce human life risks, Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROVs) are increasingly used in most offshore applications. The demand for more complex missions has increased the capabilities of ROVs in their operations. Because it is a robust and rigid system, this type of robot may not be effective in certain missions where monitoring in narrow and difficult-to-access places is required. The idea is to create a more flexible and compact three-degrees-of-freedom robot. This robot can help the offshore industry, marine biologists, and researchers in marine life investigation. The reason is that the prototype is more similar to a fish, which would avoid scaring the other specimens, thus not harming the environment. Therefore, this research project intends to develop a low-cost underwater robot modeling applied to an embedded system capable of monitoring information on the seafloor. The results are still preliminary, but they already indicate the possibility of inserting the system in a test environment closer to the real one.