Design of low cost biomimetic flexible robots using additive manufacturing techniques

In this thesis, I designed and fabricated robots leveraging additive manufacturing. This had two overarching purpose. One to make a testing apparatus that would allow the measurements of the influence of a flexible flapping foil onto a subsequent, in-line, foil with the optic of researching optimized propulsion solutions for under water vehicles. The second was to show that filament deposition modeling has advanced enough to produce bio-mimetic flexible robots of academic relevance that would allow, for a low price, the making of a number of experimental setup with specific measurements in mind. In order to reach those goals, two versions of a bio-mimetic archer fish of the genus Toxotes were modeled using various software. The models were modified to accept actuator assemblies and interface to the electronics and built using a modified hobby grade 3D printer.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Jeunehomme, Eric J. S.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alexandra H. Techet.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122313

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122313