Design, construction, and control of a robotic dolphin

Nature has developed excellent yet simple solutions to everyday problems and improved them through natural selection for thousands of years. Now the science mimics the solutions of nature against its own challenges. In this paper, design and development studies of a robotic dolphin prototype, entirely inspired by bottlenose the dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), are presented in three parts. Design features of the prototype, hydrodynamic analysis, system modeling and simulation are presented in the first section. The second section presents the mechanical construction, in which a new solution for swimming efficiency and maneuverability is proposed. In the control section, motion control of the prototype and control system structure are presented. Experimental results are discussed briefly.