Design Concepts for a Hybrid Swimming and Walking Vehicle

AbstractThis paper describes the design and proposed control methods for a 6-legged swimming and walking robot that can be used in a variety of different transportation and equipment control applications above ground, under water and above water. Known as the TURTLE (Tele–operated Unmanned Robot for Telemetry and Legged Exploration), a prototype of this mobile robot is currently being designed and developed for experimental testing in the near future. It will be powered by rechargeable electric batteries (to be recharged by solar panels) and all of its actuators will be electric motors, each controlled and monitored by onboard microcontrollers supervised by an onboard master computer. The TURTLE will be fitted with several high-resolution digital cameras, 3D laser and sonar scanners, an IMU (Inertial Management Unit), electronic compass, GPS (satellite navigation) module, underwater sonar transceiver hardware and two or more types of long-distance wireless communications hardware. The first prototype of the TURTLE will focus on basic tasks such as remote video surveillance, 3D terrain surface scanning (above ground and underwater), basic swimming styles, basic walking styles, climbing over large rocks and walking over very rough ground and steep terrain. This paper describes the main objectives, basic performance specifications, functions and mechanical design solutions that have been developed so far for this project. It covers details of the various different swimming modes and feasible solutions for achieving the main design objectives

Desenvolvimento do Projeto e Construção de um Protótipo de Veículo Não Tripulado de Subsuperfície

O crescimento que se tem evidenciado, ao longo dos últimos anos, de estudos dedicados a veículos biomiméticos demonstram as suas vantagens e potencialidades- A sua crescente produção nas mais variadas formas revela-nos uma janela para o futuro. Com o intuito de acompanhar esta evolução, e na sequência da participação da Escola Naval no projeto SABUVIS I na construção de um veículo deste género, BUV3, iniciou-se o projeto e construção do TOBIAS inserido no projeto SABUVIS II. O projeto SABUVIS II tem como objetivo global a criação de um cardume constituído por unidades executantes e unidades controladoras. A presente dissertação inicia-se um ano após o início do projeto e construção de uma unidade executante, numa altura em que a forma, sistema de propulsão e componentes eletrónicos estão bem definidos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal o aprontamento deste veículo para a realização de testes de estanqueidade. Para isto será necessário rever todo o trabalho realizado até ao momento, no sentido de aperfeiçoamento de componentes existentes, como por exemplo as barbatanas peitorais, bem como a construção de componentes em falta. Por fim serão montados todos os componentes exteriores deixando o veículo pronto a executar testes.The growth that has been evident over the last few years of studies dedicated to biomimetic vehicles demonstrate their advantages and potentialities, as well as their growing production in the most varied forms, revealing a glimpse to the future. In order to keep up with this evolution, Escola Naval participated in the SABUVIS I project through the construction of a vehicle of this kind, BUV3. This project was followed by the design and construction of TOBIAS as part of the SABUVIS II project. The SABUVIS II project has the overall objective of developing a shoal of biomimetic vehicles, consisting of executing units and controlling units. This dissertation is developed one year after the beginning of the project for design and construction of an executing unit, at a time when its shape, propulsion system and electronic components are well defined. This work has as main objective the readiness of this vehicle for trials of watertightness tests. For this purpose, it will be necessary to review all the work carried out so far, in order to improve existing components and build missing components. Finally, all external components will be assembled, leaving the vehicle ready to perform the trials