Development of Mechanical and Control Systems for a Robotic Fish Using Electrostatic Film Motors

We describe the design features that underlie the operation of Seidengyo (electrostatic fish), a light, flexible, and bio-inspired robotic fish that swims in water like an actual fish. These features include an elaborate power transmission system and a compact and all-purpose robot controller. The power transmission system permits reciprocating power, from a 3-layer- structure electrostatic film motor, to be converted to periodic oscillations of a caudal fin. The controller is capable uf easily generating high-frequency and high-voltage driving signals and rapidly accomplishing various control tasks (e.g., sampling sensor, computing control algorithms and so on). As a result, we can control oscillations of the caudal fin via a synchronous operation approach to realize open-loop swimming. We present the results of experiments that focus on the performance of the constructed controller.