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Sea-Air-Space
2015 - Naval Research Lab WANDA UUV |
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Naval
Research Laboratory showcases bio-inspired UUV WANDA at SAS 2015 |
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At
Sea-Air-Space 2015, the US Navy's Naval Research Laboratory is showcasing
and actively controlled curvature robotic fin based on the pectoral
fin of a coral reef fish, the bird wrasse. This fin, which generates
3D vectorel thrust through actuation of fin and fin rib stroke angles,
has been integrated onto a man-portable, unmanned underwater vehicle
called WANDA – Wrasse-inspired Agile Near-shore Deformable-fin
Automaton.
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Naval Research
Laboratory's WANDA bio-inspired Unmanned Underwater Vehicle at SAS '15 |
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By weighting and
combining various fin gaits, WANDA performs controlled maneuvers including
forward, reverse and vertical translation, and turn-in-place rotation.
WANDA is designed to operate at a full range of speed from zero to
two knots, or hold position in up to two-knot currents, giving it
the low-speed capability many traditional UUVs lack. This technology
opens up missions in ports, harbour, and other shorelines areas to
include monitoring, and covert and riverine operations.
Various enabling
technologies are also being developed in conjunction with the WANDA
UUV platform. These include artificial lateral line sensors for near-field
object and flow detection, biochemical sensors for trace level detection
of chemical signatures, and a hybrid flying swimmer platform (Flimmer)
for fast, long-range ingress of a UUV.
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