The robot fish was fitted with a twisted and coiled polymer (TCP) to drive it forward, a light-weight low cost device that relies on temperature change to generate movement, which also limits its speed.
A TCP works by contracting like muscles when heated, converting the energy into mechanical motion. The TCP used in this work is warmed by Joule heating - the pass of current through an electrical conductor produces thermal energy and heats up the conductor. By minimising the distance between the TCP on one side of the robot fish and the spring on the other, this activates the fin at the rear, enabling the robot fish to reach new speeds. The undulating flapping of its rear fin was measured at a frequency of 2Hz, two waves per second. The frequency of the electric current is the same as the frequency of tail flap.
The findings provide a new route to raising the actuation - the action of causing a machine or device to operate - frequency of TCPs through thermomechanical design and shows the possibility of using TCPs at high frequency in aqueous environments.
Paper: ‘Robotic Fish driven by Twisted and Coiled Polymer Actuators at High Frequencies’ by Tsam Lung You et al at the 6th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2023).