Self-propelled swimming simulations of self-assembling smart boxes

This paper presents self-propelled swimming simulations of a smart foldable structure capable of swimming and selfassembly for rescue or rapid construction missions, e.g., making temporary bridges. The open configuration of the robot is like a wide cross, which undulates like an eel to swim to a given location. Micro Fiber Composites (MFCs) attached to the surface of the foldable robot actuate the surfaces for swimming purpose. Once the robot arrives at the desired locations shape memory alloys will be activated to fold the robot to a box. To optimize the kinematics of the robot to achieve either highest speed or maximize efficiency during locomotion. self-propelled swimming simulations of the robot was carried out by varying two kinematic parameters: the body motion wavelength and the amplitude. The simulations shows that to achieve higher speed, higher wavelengths are more desirable, e.g., wavelength of 0.95L achieved 15% higher swimming speed relative to 0.65L (L is the swimmer's length). In contrast, to achieve higher efficiency, lower wavelengths (0.65L) and higher undulation amplitude (0.15L) was 14% more efficient than the other swimmer with wavelength 0.95L and amplitude 0.1L