DEVELOPMENT OF MANTA RAY INSPIRED FISH ROBOT WITH EMBODIED SENSING FOR EFFICIENT UNDERWATER ENVIRONMENT MONITORING

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PUBLISHED DATE: - 04-12-2024

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https://doi.org/10.37547/tajet/Volume06Issue12-04

PAGE NO.: - 24-43

DEVELOPMENT OF MANTA RAY INSPIRED
FISH ROBOT WITH EMBODIED SENSING FOR
EFFICIENT UNDERWATER ENVIRONMENT
MONITORING

Taha Rehman Aali

Department of Electrical Engineering, Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan

Hammad Adnan

Department of Electrical Engineering, Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan

Dr. Afaque Manzoor Soomro

Department of Electrical Engineering, Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan

INTRODUCTION

The ocean covers more than 70% of the earth’s

surface making it very vast and large but remains

one of the least explored [1]. The ocean contains
diverse ecosystems and vital resources important

for planet’s health and human survival. To

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Open Access

Abstract

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understand marine life, studying impacts of
climate

change,

monitoring

underwater

environment is crucial [3]. In the past ocean
exploration was done by direct human
involvement through diving and manned
submersibles. However, these methods were
limited by depth, duration and safety concerns.
The advancement in technology introduced new
advanced methods for underwater exploration, the
methods include underwater vehicles used for
studying underwater environments without direct
human involvement.

These technologies opened new ways for scientific
research and environment monitoring.

Underwater robots have become very important
tools for ocean exploration. Underwater robots
such as ROVs and AUVs are heavily used for
environment monitoring, and they help in
gathering data from the ocean. These robots are
equipped with sensors, cameras and sonar
systems to perform various ocean tasks and collect
critical

information

about

underwater

environment autonomously. These traditional
robots are precise and durable but due to their
bulky structure they face challenges in complex
conditions of the ocean. The disadvantages of these
robots such as less adaptability and rigid parts can
potentially harm marine ecosystem.

Soft bio-inspired robots are now used over
traditional

robots for underwater monitoring due to their
flexibility and adaptability [4]. They can navigate
through complex and confined environments and
can interact with diverse marine environments
more safely and effectively [2].

These robots also draw less power and produce
less noise than traditional robots. Soft bio-inspired
robots take inspiration from real-life aquatic
animals and mimic their movements such as
swimming pattern, design and ae made of soft and

compliant materials. These materials are
analogous to ones found in living sea creatures [2].

By using such materials, robot’s flexibility

adaptability and degree of freedom increases. Soft
robots are designed to move, crawl, swim and get
used to surrounding the way natural sea livings are
doing.

Traditional hard robots such as AUVs and ROVs
have limitations in underwater monitoring due to
their rigid structure, less degree of freedom, high
power requirements and are less adaptable and
poses harm for marine ecosystem [19]. To address
these challenges flexible and adaptable soft robots
are required which can easily navigate through
confined and complex environments due to their
efficiency and maneuverability. Manta rays belong
to the family Myliobatidae and are among the
largest species of sea. Manta rays are characterized
by their rigid, compressed and flat bodies from top
to bottom, and large, expanded pectoral fins which

can reach spans of over 9 meters [5]. Manta ray’s

structure is like designed hydrofoil, and it helps
them to generate lift [10]. The fins of Manta rays
are flexible and allow them to produce thrust
efficiently. Manta rays swimming pattern is
analogous to flight of birds, which involves
oscillation of fins and generate lift through
upstroke and down stroke motion. Manta rays
swim by flapping their large pectoral fins and these
fins move in a wave-like motion, with a wave
extending from base of the fin to tip. Research
shows that initiation of both upstroke and down
stroke happens at front base of fin and produces
waves that travel through fin to the wing [21].

Swimming mechanics of manta ray is very complex
and highly efficient. Manta ray swim by flapping
their fins in vertical plane through upstroke and
down stroke. The flexibility in their pectoral fins
plays an important role in swimming mechanics of
manta rays. Manta rays are known as one of the
efficient swimmers in ocean due to their unique

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swimming pattern and large pectoral fins.
Research shows that propulsive efficiency of
manta rays can as be high as 89% [21].

Manta rays have efficient swimming mechanics
and unique structural features that make them a
good model for biomimicry. Bio-inspiration can be
taken, and their wave-like motion of fins can be
replicated to design bio-inspired soft robots for
underwater

monitoring.

Studying

and

understanding about swimming patterns and fin
movements of manta rays can lead to innovative
solutions in developments of new technologies for
underwater monitoring and soft robotics.

Soft robots are not made from hard rigid parts
unlike traditional hard robots, and they are made
from soft, compliant and flexible materials such as
flexible polymers, silicones and elastomers to
ensure flexibility of robots. For the actuation
motors are not used instead soft robots are
actuated by using pneumatic, hydraulic, dielectric
elastomers and shape-memory alloys (SMAs). Each
actuation method offers unique advantages and
has limitations and choice of actuation method and

materials used influences robot’s flexibility,

adaptability and performance to various tasks and
applications.

METHODOLOGY

The first phase is to conduct literature review on
Manta rays and study their movements, swimming
patterns, design and related work that is done on

soft robots inspired by Manta r

ay’s. After

conducting study, we analyzed a graph that we
extracted from a research paper which helps in

studying Manta ray’s swimming movements. Using

TRACKING software, we studied movements of
Manta ray and ensured the graph matched our
results from the software.

After extracting features, our next step involved
designing our soft robot based on the study and
analysis of different research papers. Building on
this knowledge, we proceeded to the design phase,
where SOLIDWORKS software is used to create a
3D model of our proposed soft robot. The design
was based on a study conducted on manta rays and
aiming to mimic their swimming movements as
closely as possible.

For validation of our design, simulation was done
on ANSYS software. Simulation helped us in
ensuring our design accuracy before moving to
fabrication and helped us in saving material in
hardware. The final phase involved practical
implementation of our design. Molds were
prepared on SOLIDWORKS software and printed in
FabLab. The fabrication process included
fabricating fins of our robot by pouring material in
molds and testing was done to ensure that final
design worked properly and accordingly to
simulation. Additionally, we designed a pressure
kit with a microcontroller so that we can control
our robot using laptop.

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Fig. 2.1. flow chart of project.

Fig. 2.2. Block Diagram of proposed Project Procedure

Design of Soft Robot

Analysis of shape design of Manta Ray

We extracted the data from a research paper [12]
that includes the fin shape and size ratio. The
image below shows the size ration (fin and div)
and fin shape of Manta Ray. Furthermore, the

image also had a Fig. of air foil that shows the
aerodynamic profile of manta Ray. Another paper
[5] that shows the fin movement in a certain
pattern. We used these parameters to design the
soft fins to achieve that pattern and rigid hard
center part inspired from airfoil to get an
aerodynamic center of robot.

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Fig. 2.3. (a) The schematic diagram of a real manta ray. (b) the scale of the robot (c) the

NACA0022 and its optimized airfoil (d) NACA0016 and its optimized airfoil (e) NACA0008 and its

optimized [12].

CAD Design of 3D Soft Fin

We needed to make a fin design that has flapping
motion like a real-life Manta ray (mimicking as
much as possible). Initially, we started designing
the fins using SOLIDWORKS, several designs were
made to achieve the required fin movement. We
started with a single cavity and observed its

actuation in the simulation software ANSYS, but it
did not achieve the required results. After further
literature review, we changed to a new design of
fin that has two air cavities, one for transitional and
other for rotational movement of the fin. The fin
contains the upper cavity, the lower cavity and tilt
cavity these parts help soft robot Manta Ray to
create upward and forward thrust.

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The fin design with single air cavity in fig’s can only

actuate in a straight vertical motion not in the
desired curve path as mentioned in the chapter 1.
The design was changed to double air cavity for
straight and vertical actuation. Fig 8.b shows an
initial fin design of double air cavity that failed to
achieve the required curve path movement. After
many hits and trails of various two cavity designs,
we reached a design that became the base design
for soft fin with which we can proceed to
simulation. The upper half part of the fin that has
one cavity for downward motion of fin, the
increase of pressure in this cavity actuates the fin
in straight downward direction. The lower half
part of the fin has two cavities, that actuates the fin
in upward straight and curved path. Increasing the

pressure in the three cavities will result in the
desired curve path. The width and height size of
these cavities is 2mm.

Similar was the design of the right fin, which is like
a mirror image of the left fin. These two fins were
then simulated using ANSYS workbench to observe
their movement before fabrication.

CAD design of Center part

The center div of manta ray was designed using
SolidWorks. The design is inspired from the air foil
for higher aerodynamic efficiency e.g. less drag and
lift. The size of the center part is made by
considering the size ratio, of 0.3x, obtained from
the above-mentioned research paper. The total
width of the center part is 60mm. The design is
shown below,

Fig. 2.4. (a) Airfoil Diagram has low drag and high lift as it passes through the air [13] (b) The

isometric view of center part, the part has space in the center for placing pipes and the side

openings for attaching the fin. (c) This is side view of center part; the design is similar to airfoil.

Simulation of Soft Robot

Material Defining

The first step is to define the material properties of
Eco flex 30 for the simulation software. The ecoflex
has nonlinear response of stress vs strain [14] [15]
graph making it difficult to simulate, unlike linear
materials that exhibit linear response which are

easier for simulation software to understand. To
understand nonlinear materials response to
pressure, Ansys use two model Ogden and Yeoh.
These models understand the behaviour of
nonlinear material like ecoflex, dragon skin and so
on. The Yeoh was selected as it is preferable for
simple simulations, and it require low
computational power.

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To start with the material defining, an analysis type
is to be selected first, the static structural is used to
observe the actuation of the fin by applying

pressure in the cavities. In the static structural
block, shown below, the engineering data is
selected to define the material.

Fig. 2.5. Defining Material's Density Property.

Fig. 2.6. Defining the constant values for model Yeoh of 2nd order.

Fig. 2.7. Cut image of geometry using section planes to select upper cavity’s walls.

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Uploading geometry and selecting pressure areas

In the geometry step we imported our design to
select the inner walls of each cavity to define the
area where the pressure is to be applied to the
software. After selecting we named each cavity and
put them in named selection (tilt cavity, lower
cavity, upper cavity). The purpose of using named
selection is to use these areas multiple time
without reselecting them again and again

because the total number of walls of all cavities are
696 which we selected one by one.

Static Structural Analysis

Static structural is the simplest simulation which is
not time dependent like transient structural [16].
The static only needs fix surface, gravity, pressure

and few analyses setting. After selection of cavities,
we moved to the next phase of simulation which is
model. In the model we selected the defined
material and give it to it the geometry. We also
defined parameters like pressure, fixed structure,
standard earth gravity and desired result
parameters like deformation, stress and strain. The
pressure to each cavity was applied and solved
separately. Furthermore, we adjusted the analysis
setting before proceeding to solving the
simulation.

In the outline there is a fixed support for the part
which is not meant to be moving in the simulation.
Moreover, there is pressure parameter for each
cavity and desired results parameter like
deformation and elastic strain.

Fig. 2.7. Analysis setting for Static Structural.

For static structural we just need to increase time stepping and as we are using elastic material, we need
to turn on large deflection. The simulations results are as follows,

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Fig. 2.8. (a) Selection of tilt cavity to apply pressure. (b) Result of applying pressure in the tilt

cavity.

The image shows the result of applying pressure
on the tilt cavity that bends the fin in the desired
curved path. These are the separate results of the
of each cavity. To see the combined result and to

observe the motion path of the fin’s tip we need to

do Transient Structural Analysis.

Transient Structural Analysis

The Transient Structural Analysis is complex than

Static Structural Analysis, as this analysis is time
dependent [16]. In this analysis we need to two
things. The sequence of increasing and decreasing
pressures of each cavity using tabular data to get
the desired curve path. And adding a greater
number of steps and their sub time steps to
increase pressure slowly avoiding any simulation
error. The analysis settings for transient structural
analysis are shown below,

Fig. 2.9. Analysis setting of Transient Structural for adding steps and their sub time steps.

Also to turn on large deflection because the
material is of elastic nature. In the analysis setting

we added a greater number of steps, and their sub
time steps and turned-on large deflection.

Fig. 2.10. Pressure graph of Upper cavity.

This pressure graph is of upper cavity that will increase and decrease with certain time.

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Fig. 2.11. Pressure graph of Lower cavity.

Fig. 2.12. Pressure graph of Tilt cavity.

To check the path of fin’s tip, we placed a deformation probe on the tip of the fin. The results of Transient

Structural are as follows,

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Fig. 2.13. (a) Graph of simulated Fin's tip motion path in ANSYS workbench. (b) Fin's tip motion

path Real Manta Ray fish [5].

The result of simulated graph shows linearity rather than curve path it is because the pressure is
increased or decreased in linear manner. If pressure is changed exponentially the resultant graph will
have curve path.

Fabrication of Soft Robot

Design of Fin molds

The molds were designed by swapping the extrude cut with boss extrude and vice versa. So that the
material will be poured in the fin except cavity areas. It has additional side parts to place pipes before
pouring the material. This mold is just for the lower part of the fin, and it will be open at the bottom when
the lower fin is fabricated, it needs a base mold to close the cavities from top and bottom. Same is for the
upper part of the fin. So, in total we need four molds for left fin and four more for right fin.

Figure 2.14. Base mold to close the cavities of lower part of the right fin.

3d printing Molds

After completely creating the molds design and center part of the robot which is discussed in chapter 4.
The design is transferred as a g-code file to a 3d printer to print the molds. As mentioned before these are
four molds for right fin and four additional will be made for the left fin.

Fig. 2.15. (a) Printed right lower Mold. (b) Printed right upper Mold. (c) Printed right upper base

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Mold. (d) Printed right lower base Mold.

Fig. 2.16. Printed Center part of Soft Robot.

Fabricating Fins

The material ecoflex 30 is used for fabrication of the fins, the material comes in two parts one of them is
hardner which changes it from liquid to solid flexible rubber. The two parts are used in equal amounts.
The moment these two parts come in contact with each other their pot life starts ( which is of 45 minutes).
During this time the parts are to be mixed thoroughly, any traped bubbles are to be removed and the
mixture is to be poured in the molds. Because after the pot time the mixture is already in curing phase it
becomes more viscous its flowrate is decreased making it difficult to pour in the mold, also the more air
gets trapped and manually removing it is very difficult.

After mixing the mixture it is poured on the molds and base mold simultanoeusly. Then we put them on
the side to get cured completely. The cure time is of 4 hours after this another small mixture is made to
combine the half fins and base part together, it takes another 4 hours to cure. Lastly another small mixture
is made to finally combine both halfs of one fins. The whole process of making one fin takes 12-14 hours,
if we had a thermal microven the process would take less time.

Fig. 2.16. Complete fabricated fin, gluing half cured fins together.

Combining Parts

After fabrication of both fins and printing of center part they are combined as shown in the image below.
The top is open to connect it to the pressure pipes which are operated with the pressure kit.

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Fig. 2.16. Fabricated Soft Robot with rigid center part and attached soft fins with extruding pipe

for pressure insertion.

Designing Hardware

To facilitate the movement of our exploration device, we developed a pressure kit consisting of solenoids,
pumps, MOSFETs, and an Arduino controller. This kit has four modes of operation forward, left, right and
stop. The pumps work in a sequence similar to what we defined in the simulation and the working of
these modes is as follows,

1-

For forward mode both fins solenoid valves will remain open, so that both fins start moving.

2-

For stop mode the pumps stop operating.

3-

For right mode the right fins solenoid valves will close, only left fin moves making the robot turn

right.

4-

For left mode the left fins solenoid valves will close, only fight fin moves making the robot turn left.

Fig.2.17.Block Diagram of Pressure Kit Diagram.

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Fig. 2.18. Hardware circuitry of Pressure kit.

Arduino Program

The Arduino program controls the movements of the manta ray robot by applying pressure in both fins.
The programming contains Five modes of movement forward, reverse, left, right and stop. The working
of these modes is as follows,

For forward mode both fins solenoid valves will remain open, so that both fins start moving. For stop
mode the pumps stop operating. For right mode the right fins solenoid valves will close, only left fin
moves making the robot turn right. For left mode the left fins solenoid valves will close, only fight fin
moves making the robot turn left.

Arduino Code

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RESULTS

The performance of our soft robot was assessed through a series of tests to mimic the swimming pattern
of a manta ray. A 12v Dc Mini-Air pump is provided with 6v power to create a pressure of
375mmHG/50,000 Pa. This pressure displaces the tip of the fin 0.035m in vertical axis and 0.004m in
horizontal axis with reference to origin. The two-axis displacement indicates that the fin generates
forward and upward thrust, the total displacement is 0.039m and the percentage of horizontal thrust is
approximately 10%. Which indicates that 90% of generated force is used to create upward thrust and
remaining 10% force creates forward thrust.

Fig. 3.1. Fin's tip displacement at applied pressure of 375mmHg.

This work successfully designed and fabricated a bio-inspired soft robotic fish, inspired by the real manta

ray's swimming pattern and fin movements. The robot’s design, developed using SolidWorks and

simulated in ANSYS, accurately captured complex motion of manta fins. The mold was printed, and the
robot fins were fabricated using Ecoflex0030. Despite achieving the desired fin movements, the robot's
performance in water was limited by fabrication issues, such as leakages and uneven surface thickness.
The practical implementation highlighted several areas that require further refinement.

The primary aim of mimicking real manta ray fin movements was achieved to a significant extent,
demonstrating the feasibility of the design and its future applications. The use of Ecoflex0030 provided
necessary flexibility, but fabrication process needs to be optimized to reduce surface irregularities and
improve water tightness. The integration of fins with central rigid part and overall assembly must be
refined to enhance t

he robot’s in

-water performance. The project provides the foundation for several

future enhancements aimed at improving robot’s adaptability and functionality for practical use.

Sensing in soft robotics is challenging due to inherent deformability and flexibility of these systems.

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Unlike rigid robots in which traditional sensors can be easily mounted, soft robots require flexible sensors

and flexible electronics. To interact in complex environments, particularly in underwater robot’s ability

to navigate with flexibility is crucial [23].

For underwater monitoring sensing capability of robot is vital as it enables the robot to measure and
respond to environmental conditions such as pressure, flow, temperature and humidity and presence of
different mixture of chemicals present in water. robot must be capable of measuring temperature,
humidity, pressure, flow and other mixture of chemicals in water. By integrating these sensors, the

robot’s ability to sense is increased and the robot becomes able to give real

-time environmental feedback,

which leads to more accurate and efficient monitoring [27]. This capability is very important for
applications such as marine life observation, underwater exploration and pollution detection.

In future developments, the robot embodied sensing capabilities can significantly enhance the
functionality of soft robots in underwater environments. This approach can develop novel flexible

sensors and their integration with soft robots so that robot’s flexibility and mobility is not com

promised

[30].

Underwater communication is a growing field, and different developments and research are conducted
to ensure that underwater robots are capable of transmitting real-time data and to control the robot
remotely. Communication can be tethered, or wireless, tethered communication is limited to the length
of wire used and wireless communication such as acoustic, optical and RF are developed each with certain
limitations. For instance, acoustic communication is limited by short distance and requires line-of-sight,
and RF communications have disadvantage of significant attenuation in underwater [33] [35]. Integrating
communication modules with sensors and actuators will allow the robots to be controlled remotely and
exchange data effectively, despite the challenges posed by underwater environment [37].

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