Platform Design for a Natatores-like Amphibious Robot

With the exploration of the ocean, the conventional underwater or the terrestrial robot cannot meet the needs of the work in the littoral amphibious environment. Therefore the study of amphibious robots has great significance. This paper presents a platform design that aims at constructing a natatores-like amphibious robot. Inspired by the movement of natatores, this robot is designed to be suitable for multi-mode locomotion both on land and in water, which even can dive underwater. On the base of investigations about the natatores' swimming stroke and dynamic analysis, a novel robot prototype is constructed adopting the bionic structure and movement mode to generate force to push its body forward. The description of the robot includes mechanical design, system design, as well as ADAMS modeling. Meanwhile, multi-function motion modes will be adopted under dynamically changing environments with the sensor subsystem processing the gathered robotic and environmental information effectively. Preliminary testing partly verifies the feasibility of the amphibious robotic prototype.