ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Ocean Solutions
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1648335
Research on design, modeling, and maneuverability analysis of hybriddriven robotic fish
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
- 2School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- 3Shandong University Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Jinan, China
- 4National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- 5National Deep Sea Center, Qingdao, China
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Hybrid-driven robotic fish combines the maneuverability of propeller propulsion with the efficiency of biomimetic fin propulsion, offering potential advantages in underwater exploration and robotic applications. This paper presents the design and development of a hybrid-driven robotic fish that integrates both biomimetic fin and propeller propulsion systems. Initially, the kinematic and dynamic modeling challenges associated with robotic fish are addressed, establishing a comprehensive coupled mathematical model that accounts for the robotic fish's six degrees of freedom and the actuator dynamics. Subsequently, computational fluid dynamics techniques are employed to simulate a virtual tank for the robotic fish, and hydrodynamic data fitting is performed to determine key parameters such as damping coefficients and thrust coefficients. Finally, a simulation platform based on MATLAB/Simulink is constructed to simulate the robot's motion, validated through comparisons with simulated calculations and experimental observations. Based on these findings, this paper further analyzes the robotic fish's maneuverability metrics, including its surge speed, turning radius, and motion characteristics in three-dimensional space, and examines how perturbations in hydrodynamic coefficients affect swimming speed. This study provides valuable insights into the complex motion modeling and performance prediction of hybrid-driven robotic fish, and establishes a foundation for future studies on the motion control of robotic fish.
Keywords: Robotic fish, Hybrid driven, Dynamic and kinematics modeling, CFD numerical simulation, Maneuverability analysis
Received: 17 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bai, Song, Wang, Wang, Liu, Liu and Xue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gang Xue, Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
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