Sensing bending in a compliant biomimetic fish

This thesis examines the problem of sensing motion in a compliant biomimetic device. Specifically, it will examine the motion of a tail in a biomimetic fish. To date, the fish has been an open-loop system, the motion of the tail only controlled by the input to a servo motor. By sensing the motion of the tail, a closed loop system can be implemented to control the motion. In order to determine the best sensor to use, a number of options were examined. We decided to use foil bend sensors. The silicone used in the prototype was too compliant and therefore the sensors did not bend at a magnitude great enough to provide sufficient information about the bending of the tail. Upon further development and use of the sensors in stiffer silicones, they could be used in a closed loop system.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Kaczmarek, Adam S

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kamal Youcef-Toumi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36753

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36753