Bio-inspired robot launching system for a mother-son underwater manipulation task

To realize an underwater manipulation task, mother-son robot manipulation system is proposed. This paper focuses on the design of the bio-inspired robot launching system which is for underwater manipulation. We designed the son robot which is composed by 8 IPMC actuators and an ABS support frame. Due to the complicated structure, 3D printer was employed to print the support frame. We also designed the launching system which can be fixed on the mother robot for mother-son cooperation. And a stepped cylindrical shape was adopted to fit the son robot and make the launching and recovery motion easily. To realize closed-loop control for the launching system and son robot, 3 proximity sensors were employed to detect the main distance parameters and trigger the launching system. The control circuit and algorithm were proposed to realize underwater manipulation. Finally, we used an underwater manipulation experiment to verify the feasibility for the launching system. The experimental results showed that the launching system can realize underwater manipulation successfully.