Abstract
Actuators based on soft elastomers offer significant advantages to the field of robotics, providing greater adaptability, improving collision resilience, and enabling shape-morphing. Thus, soft fluidic actuators have seen an expansion in their fields of application. Closed-cycle hydraulic systems are pressure agnostic, enabling their deployment in extremely high-pressure conditions, such as deep-sea environments. However, soft actuators have not been widely adopted on unmanned underwater vehicle control surfaces for deep-sea exploration due to their unpredictable hydrodynamic behavior when camber-morphing is applied. This study presents the design and characterization of a soft wing and investigates its feasibility for integration into an underwater glider. It is found that the morphing wing enables the glider to adjust the lift-to-drag ratio to adapt to different flow conditions. At the operational angle of attack of 12.5 degrees, the lift-to-drag ratio ranges from -70% to +10% compared to a rigid version. Furthermore, it reduces the need for internal moving parts and increases maneuverability. The findings lay the groundwork for the real-world deployment of soft robotic principles capable of outperforming existing rigid systems. With the herein-described methods, soft morphing capabilities can be enabled on other vehicles. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000667015Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Advanced Intelligent SystemsPages / Article No.
Publisher
Wiley-VCHSubject
hydraulic actuation; hydrofoil; morphing wing; soft actuator; soft robotics; underwater glider; unmanned underwater vehicleMore
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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