Journal article
A biorobotic model of the sunfish pectoral fin for investigations of fin sensorimotor control
Bioinspiration & biomimetics, v 5(3), pp 035003-035003
Sep 2010
PMID: 20729572
Abstract
A comprehensive understanding of the control of flexible fins is fundamental to engineering underwater vehicles that perform like fish, since it is the fins that produce forces which control the fish's motion. However, little is known about the fin's sensory system or about how fish use sensory information to modulate the fin and to control propulsive forces. As part of a research program that involves neuromechanical and behavioral studies of the sunfish pectoral fin, a biorobotic model of the pectoral fin and of the fin's sensorimotor system was developed and used to investigate relationships between sensory information, fin ray motions and propulsive forces. This robotic fin is able to generate the motions and forces of the biological fin during steady swimming and turn maneuvers, and is instrumented with a relatively small set of sensors that represent the biological lateral line and receptors hypothesized to exist intrinsic to the pectoral fin. Results support the idea that fin ray curvature, and the pressure in the flow along the wall that represents the fish body, capture time-varying characteristics of the magnitude and direction of the force created throughout a fin beat. However, none of the sensor modalities alone are sufficient to predict the propulsive force. Knowledge of the time-varying force vector with sufficient detail for the closed-loop control of fin ray motion will result from the integration of characteristics of many sensor modalities.
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Details
- Title
- A biorobotic model of the sunfish pectoral fin for investigations of fin sensorimotor control
- Creators
- Chris Phelan - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USAJames TangorraGeorge LauderMelina Hale
- Publication Details
- Bioinspiration & biomimetics, v 5(3), pp 035003-035003
- Publisher
- Institute of Physics (IOP); England
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000282152500004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-77956724737
- Other Identifier
- 991014878111404721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Engineering, Multidisciplinary
- Materials Science, Biomaterials
- Robotics