Development of surface vehicle with single motor by gliding locomotion

The conventional screw propeller is widely used for ships and water vehicles. However, the screw propeller has safety problems that get entangled in the fish net or the algae. In addition, the propulsion by the screw consumes a lot of energy. The goal of our research is the development of an alternative propulsion method for the unmanned surface vehicle to the screw propeller. In this paper, we focus on the gliding locomotion which is defined as the forward motion by the difference of the friction between the normal direction and the tangential direction. In particular, we have considered a mechanism of the surface vehicle propulsion with the gliding locomotion using only single servo motor. Moreover, we have developed a model vehicle with the proposed propulsion which can drive forward and gyrate. Then, we have shown experimental result and consider the performance.